Guidance regarding 2 female Jazz legends please..

You have picked two of the greats. As a life long fan of Nina Simone I am more familar with her catalog. She transcends many musical styles, jazz, blues, folk, broadway, rock and pop. All of her albums are different and worthwhile. Her current catalog on cd is littered with best ofs, greatest hits, compliations, 2fers and some individual albums. One of my favorite and one she oftens states that she is very proud of is "Nina Simone and Piano" It is available as a single cd and on a 2fer. As far as Billie Holiday my favorite lp is "Songs for Distingue Lovers".

I am probably less familiar with Nina Simone than Rec, but I can recommend "Nina Simone sings the Blues". I have this on DCC vinyl. The sound is good, but it is an old recording and is not a stellar one. I have not heard "Nina Simone and Piano", but it sounds like I should. As for Billie Holiday, the famous "Lady in Satin" is my favorite. I also have this on LP, rather than CD. It is a very, very good recording, but I have no idea about the CD.

check allmusic.com for suggestions. a terrific web site overall that doesn't get quirky with its suggestions. many jazz artists recorded with multiple labels over their careers, so it can be tricky finding just one cd that contains all of the essential stuff. with billie holiday, i'd go with something from columbia, although some of the well-known songs, like strange fruit, were done on other labels.

Simone is hard to reccomend just one LP/CD.Check out listings on www.allmusic.com.Billy well that's much easier.You could check out her voluminous catalog on Colombia (13 CD's or more I believe).Not the best fidelity but her voice was young and fresh.I would say the single CD "Best of the Commodore" years or 2 CD best of Decca.Some folks like her latter Verve stuff but drugs and alchohol had burned her throat out by the 50's and I find it depressing.Go Decca or Commodore.Others you might like would be Ell Fitzgerald "Clap hands here comes Charlie",Sara Vaughn "With Clifford Brown",and Dinah washington "Dinah Jams" (Also with trumpeter Clifford Brown.The greatest of the great would include Billy,Ella,Sarrah and for the modern 60's Betty Carter.I used to help folks build jazz libraries when I worked in a record store for 5 years so if you have any other questions just email me.Best single reference is the book "The Allm usic Guide to Jazz" miller/freeman press.It has music maps so you can easily see who were the best performers on an istrumnet (inlcuding voice) for a particular era or style.Well worth the cost of 2 CD's since one spends so much you want the best not a shot in the dark.There web site is something I used daily when ordering for mytslef or the shop (www.allmusic.com).Enjoy you have a beautiful world ahead of you.