Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944

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Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944
Box set by
ReleasedOctober 2, 2001
RecordedNovember 1933 to
January 1944
GenreJazz
Length11:21:57
LabelLegacy Recordings
ProducerMichael Brooks
Michael Cuscuna
Billie Holiday chronology
Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday
(2001)
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944
(2001)
A Musical Romance
(2002)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]

Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944 is a 10-CD box set compiling the complete known studio master recordings, plus alternate takes, of Billie Holiday during the time period indicated, released in 2001 on Columbia/Legacy, CXK 85470.[4] Designed like an album of 78s, the medium in which these recordings initially appeared, the 10.5" × 12" box includes 230 tracks, a 116-page booklet with extensive photos, a song list, discography, essays by Michael Brooks, Gary Giddins, and Farah Jasmine Griffin, and an insert of appreciations for Holiday from a diversity of figures including Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithfull, B.B. King, Abbey Lincoln, Jill Scott, and Lucinda Williams. At the 44th Grammy Awards on February 27, 2002, the box set won the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album of the previous year.

History[edit]

These recordings were made in a time before the LP album, introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. Recorded music had arrived a few decades earlier in the form of a 10-inch gramophone record playing at 78 revolutions per minute, two songs of around three-and-a-half minute duration per side. During the Great Depression, record sales for domestic use dramatically decrease, but a viable market remained for the playing of records in jukeboxes. Initially, these records featuring Billie Holiday were made with that market in mind.

John Hammond, who had discovered Holiday singing in a Harlem jazz club in 1933, arranged for her first recording session that same year on November 27. In the company of Jack Teagarden, Gene Krupa, and Hammond's future brother-in-law Benny Goodman, the two sides with Holiday would be released under Goodman's name. A little more than 19 months later, Holiday would be in another New York studio for her second session in association with Goodman again, as well as Ben Webster and Cozy Cole, under the leadership of Teddy Wilson. From July 2, 1935, through August 7, 1941, Holiday would regularly record, for commercial issue, 78s credited to herself or to Wilson.

With a few exceptions, these records were originally released on labels other than Columbia which catered to an African American market, then referred to as race records. The labels Brunswick Records and Vocalion Records became fellow companies to Columbia when it was purchased in 1934 by the American Record Corporation, which had owned Brunswick and Vocalion since late 1931. Records credited to Wilson were released on Brunswick; those to Holiday on Vocalion. With the purchase of ARC in 1939 by CBS, the corporation re-organized its record labels under the aegis of Columbia as the parent company. Starting in 1940, the Holiday releases were issued on the Okeh Records imprint, reactivated by CBS to handle its product for the "race record" market.

Content[edit]

Discs one through six, and disc seven tracks one through fourteen present the master takes in chronological recorded order. The remainder of disc seven, and discs eight through ten, present the alternate takes and other items, also in chronological recorded order. The other items consist of eight tracks not part of the general body of Wilson/Holiday recordings from 1935 to 1941. The first, track 15 of disc seven "Saddest Tale" with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, was taken from the soundtrack to the short film Symphony in Black released by Paramount in 1935. Disc eight, tracks three through five, contain airchecks with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1937, the only documentation of Holiday's year-long tenure as Basie's band singer. Disc nine, tracks seven and eight, feature recordings broadcast on the Camel Caravan radio variety program of January 17, 1939; with backing by the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Billie sings alongside Johnny Mercer, Martha Tilton, and Leo Watson on the second song, Mercer's "Jeepers Creepers".

The final two tracks of the set, numbers 22 and 23 of disc ten, are from the Esquire Award Winners Concert at the Metropolitan Opera, broadcast and recorded on V-Discs for distribution to servicemen overseas during World War II. Holiday had won top female jazz vocalist for 1943, and became the first African American woman to sing at the Met. "Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me" and "Billie's Blues," under a different title, are performed accompanied by other Esquire poll winners, Roy Eldridge, Barney Bigard, Art Tatum, Al Casey, Oscar Pettiford, and Sidney Catlett. This recording took place more than two years after the final studio session in 1941, and during the Petrillo recording ban; the AFM waived the strike terms for the recording of V-discs.

Original recording sessions took place at the following locations in New York City: at the 55 Fifth Avenue Studio on November 27, 1933; at the 1776 Broadway Studio from 1935 through January 1939; at the 711 Fifth Avenue Studio from March 1939 through June 1940; at Liederkranz Hall on East 58th Street in September and October 1940; and at Columbia Studios in their new headquarters at 799 Seventh Avenue in 1941. The producers for the original recordings included John Hammond and Bernie Hanighen, others are not known.

Significance[edit]

In terms of a collected body of work combining both influence and quality of achievement, these recordings are some of the most important in jazz history. Ranking jazz records always presents an exercise in both controversy and consternation, but certainly the Wilson/Holiday sides belong in the company of the Hot Five and Hot Sevens of Louis Armstrong, the collated set by Fletcher Henderson later called A Study In Frustration, the early Basie band on Decca, Duke Ellington's records with Ben Webster and Jimmy Blanton for RCA Victor, the Charlie Parker bebop sides for Savoy and Dial, and the Atlantic LPs by Ornette Coleman, not to mention the expanse of albums by Miles Davis and John Coltrane, together and separately.

The sessions coincide with the rise of the swing era on its way to becoming the popular music of the United States during the late Depression and war years. Chosen by Hammond, Hanighen, Holiday, or Wilson, many of the musicians present were members of the leading swing bands of the day, such as those by Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Artie Shaw, Jimmie Lunceford, and Cab Calloway, among others. Of special note are the records cut with members of the Basie band, Holiday herself hired by Basie in 1937, including his rhythm section of Freddie Green, Walter Page, and Jo Jones, along with key soloists Buck Clayton and Holiday's musical soul-mate, Lester Young. The roster of Holiday and Wilson sidemen reads like a who's who of jazz soloists from the 1930s.

As a singer, Holiday had influence on defining the style of a big band vocalist after that of Bing Crosby and her role model, Louis Armstrong. Her records appeared just as the swing era was getting underway; subsequently, singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Anita O'Day, and Peggy Lee, for instance, starting out respectively with the bands of Chick Webb, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, and Benny Goodman, all found inspiration in the Holiday records on Brunswick and Vocalion. Her manipulation of rhythm and length of musical phrases, allied to her ability to find emotional resonance in songs, was acknowledged publicly as a template by singers from her own era, Sinatra, Lee, Bennett, and others, and by myriad singers in later eras. As stated by Gary Giddins in the liner notes to the box set:

"When I first got to know ["A Sailboat in the Moonlight"], I thought it a fine melody with pretty chord changes and words that might be corny but didn't seem to be so bad when Lady Day delivered them. Then I chanced to find the sheet music at a Midwestern bazaar; at home, I picked out the melody with one finger and was astonished at how different it was from what Holiday sang. Until that moment, I had not fully gauged how freely imaginative her embellishments could be. By ironing out a phrase here, retarding another there, raising this note, slurring that, she transformed a hopelessly banal and predictable melody into something personal, real, meaningful."[5]

That Sony would lavish such an expensive box for recordings originally designed for the inexpensive medium of jukebox play from six to seven decades previously stands as testament to the staying power of this body of work.

Select collective personnel[edit]

Reissue personnel[edit]

Track listing[edit]

In the writer(s) column the lyricists are named first.

Disc one[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 12/18/33 Columbia 2856D 1934 Your Mother's Son-In-Law Alberta Nichols and Mann Holiner 2:45
2. 12/18/33 Columbia 2867D 1934 Riffin' the Scotch Johnny Mercer, Dick McDonough, Benny Goodman, Fordlee Buck 2:31
3. 7/2/35 Brunswick 7501 1935 I Wished on the Moon Dorothy Parker and Ralph Rainger 3:01
4. 7/2/35 Brunswick 7498 1935 What a Little Moonlight Can Do Harry M. Woods 2:56
5. 7/2/35 Brunswick 7501 1935 Miss Brown to You Leo Robin, Richard Whiting, Ralph Rainger 2:58
6. 7/2/35 Brunswick 7498 1935 A Sunbonnet Blue (and a Yellow Straw Hat) Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain 2:50
7. 7/31/35 Brunswick 7511 1935 What a Night, What a Moon, What a Girl John Jacob Loeb 2:55
8. 7/31/35 Brunswick 7520 1935 I'm Painting the Town Red Charles Tobias, Charles Newman, Sam H. Stept 2:57
9. 7/31/35 Brunswick 7511 1935 It's Too Hot for Words Walter Samuels, Leonard Whitcup, Teddy Powell 2:45
10. 10/25/35 Brunswick 7550 1935 Twenty-Four Hours a Day Arthur Swanstrom and James Hanley 3:00
11. 10/25/35 Brunswick 7550 1935 Yankee Doodle Never Went to Town Ralph Freed and Bernie Hanighen 2:42
12. 10/25/35 Brunswick 7554 1935 Eeny Meeny Meiny Mo Johnny Mercer and Matty Malneck 3:10
13. 10/25/35 Brunswick 7554 1935 If You Were Mine Johnny Mercer and Matty Malneck 3:09
14. 12/3/35 Brunswick 7577 1936 These 'n' That 'n' Those Milton Pascal and Edward Fairchild 3:12
15. 12/3/35 Brunswick 7581 1935 You Let Me Down Al Dubin and Harry Warren 2:52
16. 12/3/35 Brunswick 7581 1935 Spreadin' Rhythm Around Ted Koehler and Jimmy McHugh 2:53
17. 1/30/36 Brunswick 7612 1936 Life Begins When You're in Love Lew Brown and Victor Schertzinger 3:02
18. 6/30/36 Brunswick 7702 1936 It's Like Reaching for the Moon Al Lewis, Al Sherman, Gerald Marqusee 3:20
19. 6/30/36 Brunswick 7699 1936 These Foolish Things Holt Marvell and Jack Strachey 3:17
20. 6/30/36 Brunswick 7729 1936 I Cried for You Gus Arnheim, Arthur Freed, Abe Lyman 3:10
21. 6/30/36 Brunswick 7702 1936 Guess Who Ralph Freed and Burton Lane 3:08
22. 7/10/36 Vocalion 3276 1936 Did I Remember? Harold Adamson and Walter Donaldson 2:49
23. 7/10/36 Vocalion 3276 1936 No Regrets Harry Tobias and Roy Ingraham 2:35
24. 7/10/36 Vocalion 3288 1936 Summertime DuBose Heyward, Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin 2:53
25. 7/10/36 Vocalion 3288 1936 Billie's Blues Billie Holiday 2:38

Disc two[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 9/29/36 Vocalion 3333 1936 A Fine Romance Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern 2:51
2. 9/29/36 Vocalion 3333 1936 I Can't Pretend Charles Tobias, Paul Rusincky, W. Edward Breuder 3:03
3. 9/29/36 Vocalion 3334 1936 One, Two, Button Your Shoe Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke 2:47
4. 9/29/36 Vocalion 3334 1936 Let's Call a Heart a Heart Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke 2:59
5. 10/21/36 Brunswick 7762 1936 Easy to Love Cole Porter 3:10
6. 10/21/36 Brunswick 7768 1936 With Thee I Swing Basil Adam, Alex Hyde, Al Stillman 3:16
7. 10/21/36 Brunswick 7762 1936 The Way You Look Tonight Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern 3:00
8. 10/21/36 Brunswick 7768 1936 Who Loves You? Benny Davis and J. Fred Coots 3:13
9. 11/19/36 Brunswick 7789 1936 Pennies from Heaven Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke 3:15
10. 11/19/36 Brunswick 7789 1936 That's Life I Guess Peter DeRose and Sam M. Lewis 3:08
11. 11/19/36 Brunswick 7781 1936 I Can't Give You Anything but Love Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh 3:26
12. 1/12/37 Vocalion 3431 1937 One Never Knows, Does One? Mack Gordon and Harry Revel 3:02
13. 1/12/37 Vocalion 3431 1937 I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm Irving Berlin 2:55
14. 1/12/37 Vocalion 3440 1937 If My Heart Could Only Talk Walter Samuels, Leonard Whitcup, Teddy Powell 3:03
15. 1/12/37 Vocalion 3440 1937 Please Keep Me in Your Dreams Tot Seymour and Vee Lawnhurst 2:16
16. 1/25/37 Brunswick 7824 1937 He Ain't Got Rhythm Irving Berlin 2:49
17. 1/25/37 Brunswick 7824 1937 This Year's Kisses Irving Berlin 3:08
18. 1/25/37 Brunswick 7859 1937 Why Was I Born? Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern 2:50
19. 1/25/37 Brunswick 7859 1937 I Must Have That Man Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh 2:54
20. 2/18/37 Brunswick 7844 1937 The Mood That I'm In Abner Silver and Al Sherman 2:59
21. 2/18/37 Brunswick 7840 1937 You Showed Me the Way Ella Fitzgerald, Teddy McRae, Chick Webb, Bud Green 2:58
22. 2/18/37 Brunswick 7844 1937 Sentimental and Melancholy Johnny Mercer and Richard Whiting 2:37
23. 2/18/37 Brunswick 7840 1937 My Last Affair Haven A. Johnson 3:08

Disc three[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 3/31/37 Brunswick 7867 1937 Carelessly Nick Kenny, Charles Kenny, Norman Ellis 3:05
2. 3/31/37 Brunswick 7867 1937 How Could You? Al Dubin and Harry Warren 2:29
3. 3/31/37 Brunswick 7877 1937 Moanin' Low Howard Dietz and Ralph Rainger 3:03
4. 4/1/37 Vocalion 3543 1937 Where Is the Sun? John Redmond and Lee David 2:45
5. 4/1/37 Vocalion 3520 1937 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin 2:36
6. 4/1/37 Vocalion 3520 1937 They Can't Take That Away from Me Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin 3:02
7. 4/1/37 Vocalion 3543 1937 Don't Know If I'm Comin' or Goin' Lee Wainer and Lupin Fien 2:45
8. 5/11/37 Brunswick 7917 1937 Sun Showers Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown 3:06
9. 5/11/37 Brunswick 7917 1937 Yours and Mine Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown 3:15
10. 5/11/37 Brunswick 7903 1937 I'll Get By Roy Turk and Fred E. Ahlert 3:07
11. 5/11/37 Brunswick 7903 1937 Mean to Me Roy Turk and Fred E. Ahlert 3:06
12. 6/1/37 Brunswick 7911 1937 Foolin' Myself Peter Tinturin and Jack Lawrence 3:00
13. 6/1/37 Brunswick 7911 1937 Easy Living Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger 3:02
14. 6/1/37 Brunswick 7926 1937 I'll Never Be The Same Gus Kahn, Frank Signorelli, Matty Malneck 3:01
15. 6/15/37 Vocalion 3593 1937 Me, Myself, and I Irving Gordon, Allen Roberts, Alvin Kaufman 2:35
16. 6/15/37 Vocalion 3605 1937 A Sailboat in the Moonlight Carmen Lombardo and John Jacob Loeb 2:49
17. 6/15/37 Vocalion 3605 1937 Born to Love Jack Scholl and M.K. Jerome 2:38
18. 6/15/37 Vocalion 3593 1937 Without Your Love Johnny Lange and Fred Stryker 2:51
19. 9/13/37 Vocalion 3701 1937 Getting Some Fun Out of Life Edgar Leslie and Joseph A. Burke 3:00
20. 9/13/37 Vocalion 3701 1937 Who Wants Love? Gus Kahn and Franz Waxman 2:32
21. 9/13/37 Vocalion 3748 1937 Travelin' All Alone J. C. Johnson 2:12
22. 9/13/37 Vocalion 3748 1937 He's Funny That Way Neil Moret and Richard Whiting 2:39

Disc four[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 11/1/37 Brunswick 8015 1937 Nice Work If You Can Get It Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin 3:07
2. 11/1/37 Brunswick 8015 1937 Things Are Looking Up Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin 3:19
3. 11/1/37 Brunswick 8008 1937 My Man Jacques Charles, Channing Pollock, Albert Willemetz, Maurice Yvain 3:01
4. 11/1/37 Brunswick 8008 1937 Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern 3:14
5. 1/6/38 Brunswick 8053 1938 My First Impression of You Charles Tobias and Sam H. Stept 2:47
6. 1/6/38 Brunswick 8070 1938 When You're Smiling Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay 2:50
7. 1/6/38 Brunswick 8070 1938 I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me Clarence Gaskill and Jimmy McHugh 2:49
8. 1/6/38 Brunswick 8053 1938 If Dreams Come True Edgar Sampson, Benny Goodman, Irving Mills 3:03
9. 1/12/38 Vocalion 3947 1938 Now They Call It Swing Walter Hirsch, Vaughn De Leath, Norman Cloutier, Lou Handman 2:58
10. 1/12/38 Vocalion 3947 1938 On the Sentimental Side Johnny Burke and Jimmy Monaco 3:03
11. 1/12/38 Vocalion 4029 1938 Back in Your Own Backyard Al Jolson, Billy Rose, Dave Dreyer 2:40
12. 1/12/38 Vocalion 4029 1938 When a Woman Loves a Man Johnny Mercer, Bernie Hanighen, Gordon Jenkins 2:23
13. 5/11/38 Vocalion 4126 1938 You Go to My Head J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie 2:52
14. 5/11/38 Vocalion 4126 1938 The Moon Looks Down and Laughs Bert Kalmar, Sid Silvers, Harry Ruby 2:55
15. 5/11/38 Vocalion 4151 1938 If I Were You Bob Emmerich and Buddy Bernier 2:24
16. 5/11/38 Vocalion 4151 1938 Forget If You Can Jack Manus, Ken Upham, Leonard Joy 2:48
17. 6/23/38 Vocalion 4208 1938 Having Myself a Time Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger 2:28
18. 6/23/38 Vocalion 4208 1938 Says My Heart Frank Loesser and Burton Lane 2:48
19. 6/23/38 Vocalion 4238 1938 I Wish I Had You Bud Green, Al Stillman, Claude Thornhill 2:49
20. 6/23/38 Vocalion 4238 1938 I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (and Throw Away the Key) Jimmy Eaton and Terry Shand 2:06
21. 9/15/38 Vocalion 4457 1938 The Very Thought of You Ray Noble 2:45
22. 9/15/38 Vocalion 4457 1938 I Can't Get Started Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke 2:46
23. 9/15/38 Vocalion 4396 1938 I've Got a Date with a Dream Mack Gordon and Harry Revel 2:42
24. 9/15/38 Vocalion 4396 1938 You Can't Be Mine J. C. Johnson and Chick Webb 2:21

Disc five[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 10/31/38 Brunswick 8259 1938 Everybody's Laughing Sammy Lerner and Ben Oakland 3:00
2. 10/31/38 Brunswick 8259 1938 Here It Is Tomorrow Again Patrick Gibbons and Roy Ringwald 2:44
3. 10/31/38 Brunswick 8270 1938 Say It with a Kiss Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer 2:34
4. 10/31/38 Brunswick 8265 1938 April in My Heart Helen Meinardi and Hoagy Carmichael 3:06
5. 10/31/38 Brunswick 8265 1938 I'll Never Fail You Irving Taylor and Vic Mizzy 2:58
6. 10/31/38 Brunswick 8270 1938 They Say Paul Mann, Stephan Weiss, Edward Heyman 3:10
7. 11/28/38 Brunswick 8283 1938 You're So Desirable Ray Noble 2:51
8. 11/28/38 Brunswick 8281 1938 You're Gonna See a Lot of Me Al Goodhart, Manny Kurtz, Al Hoffman 2:57
9. 11/28/38 Brunswick 8281 1938 Hello, My Darling Frank Loesser and Friedrich Hollaender 2:43
10. 11/28/38 Brunswick 8283 1938 Let's Dream in the Moonlight Raoul Walsh and Matty Malneck 2:53
11. 1/20/39 Vocalion 4631 1939 That's All I Ask of You Robert E. Pope 2:56
12. 1/20/39 Vocalion 4631 1939 Dream of Life Carmen McRae 2:43
13. 1/30/39 Brunswick 8314 1939 What Shall I Say? Peter Tinturin 3:04
14. 1/30/39 Brunswick 8314 1939 It's Easy to Blame the Weather Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin 2:58
15. 1/30/39 Brunswick 8319 1939 More Than You Know Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu 3:05
16. 1/30/39 Brunswick 8319 1939 Sugar Maceo Pinkard, Sidney Mitchell, Edna Alexander 2:45
17. 3/21/39 Vocalion 4834 1939 You're Too Lovely to Last Teddy McRae, Charlie Beal, Earl Fraser 2:48
18. 3/21/39 Vocalion 4786 1939 Under a Blue Jungle Moon R. Conway and N. Brisben 2:55
19. 3/21/39 Vocalion 4786 1939 Everything Happens for the Best Billie Holiday and Tab Smith 2:48
20. 3/21/39 Vocalion 4834 1939 Why Did I Always Depend on You? Teddy McRae 2:31
21. 3/21/39 Columbia 37586 1941 Long Gone Blues Billie Holiday 3:05

Disc six[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 7/5/39 Vocalion 5021 1939 Some Other Spring Arthur Herzog Jr. and Irene Kitchings 3:01
2. 7/5/39 Vocalion 5129 1939 Our Love Is Different Billie Holiday, R. Conway, Basil Alba, Sonny White 3:13
3. 7/5/39 Vocalion 5021 1939 Them There Eyes Maceo Pinkard, William Tracey, Doris Tauber 2:48
4. 7/5/39 Vocalion 5129 1939 Swing Brother Swing Clarence Williams, Lewis Raymond, Walter Bishop Sr. 2:54
5. 12/13/39 Vocalion 5377 1940 Night and Day Cole Porter 2:58
6. 12/13/39 Vocalion 5377 1940 The Man I Love Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin 3:04
7. 12/13/39 Vocalion 5302 1939 You're Just a No Account Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin 2:58
8. 12/13/39 Vocalion 5302 1939 You're a Lucky Guy Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin 2:43
9. 2/29/40 Vocalion 5609 1940 Ghost of Yesterday Arthur Herzog Jr. and Irene Kitchings 2:37
10. 2/29/40 Vocalion 5481 1940 Body and Soul Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton 2:57
11. 2/29/40 Vocalion 5481 1940 What Is This Going to Get Us? Arthur Herzog Jr. and Irene Kitchings 2:39
12. 2/29/40 Vocalion 5609 1940 Falling in Love Again Sammy Lerner and Friedrich Hollaender 2:49
13. 6/7/40 Okeh 5991 1941 I'm Pulling Through Arthur Herzog Jr. and Irene Kitchings 3:09
14. 6/7/40 Vocalion 5719 1940 Tell Me More-More-Then Some Billie Holiday 3:07
15. 6/7/40 Vocalion 5719 1940 Laughing at Life Nick Kenny, Charles Kenny, Bob Todd, Cornell Todd 2:54
16. 6/7/40 Okeh 5991 1941 Time on My Hands (You in My Arms) Vincent Youmans, Harold Adamson, Mack Gordon 3:04
17. 9/12/40 Okeh 5831 1940 I'm All for You Jerry Bresler and Larry Wynn 3:08
18. 9/12/40 Okeh 5831 1940 I Hear Music Frank Loesser and Burton Lane 2:39
19. 9/12/40 Okeh 5806 1940 The Same Old Story Michael Field, Newt Oliphant 3:10
20. 9/12/40 Okeh 5806 1940 Practice Makes Perfect Don Roberts and Ernest Gold 2:34
21. 10/15/40 Okeh 6064 1941 St. Louis Blues W.C. Handy 2:53
22. 10/15/40 Okeh 6064 1941 Loveless Love W.C. Handy 3:15
23. 3/21/41 Okeh 6134 1941 Let's Do It Cole Porter 2:55
24. 3/21/41 Okeh 6134 1941 Georgia on My Mind Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael 3:17

Disc seven[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 3/21/41 Okeh 6214 1941 Romance in the Dark Sam Coslow and Gertrude Niesen 2:15
2. 3/21/41 Okeh 6214 1941 All of Me Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks 3:01
3. 5/9/41 Okeh 6451 1941 I'm in a Low Down Groove Roy Jacobs[6] 3:08
4. 5/9/41 Okeh 6270 1941 God Bless the Child Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog 2:58
5. 5/9/41 Columbia 37586 1941 Am I Blue? Harry Akst and Grant Clarke 2:50
6. 5/9/41 Okeh 6270 1941 Solitude Duke Ellington, Eddie DeLange, and Irving Mills 3:13
7. 8/7/41 Okeh 6369 1941 Jim Nelson Shawn, Caesar Petrillo, Edward Ross 3:08
8. 8/7/41 Columbia 37493 1945 I Cover the Waterfront Johnny Green and Edward Heyman 2:55
9. 8/7/41 Okeh 6369 1941 Love Me or Leave Me Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn 3:20
10. 8/7/41 Okeh 6451 1941 Gloomy Sunday Rezső Seress, László Jávor, Sam M. Lewis 3:11
11. 2/10/42 Harmony 1075 1947 Wherever You Are Cliff Friend and Charles Tobias 2:59
12. 2/10/42 Columbia CL6163 1950 Mandy Is Two Johnny Mercer and Fulton McGrath 2:59
13. 2/10/42 Harmony 1075 1947 It's a Sin to Tell a Lie Billy Mayhew 3:02
14. 2/10/42 Columbia 37493 1945 Until the Real Thing Comes Along Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, L.E. Freeman, Alberta Nichols, Mann Holiner 3:08
15. 3/12/35 Legacy C3K 47724 1991 Saddest Tale Irving Mills and Duke Ellington 2:53
16. 7/10/36 previously unreleased No Regrets (Take 2) Harry Tobias and Roy Ingraham 2:35
17. 10/21/36 previously unreleased The Way You Look Tonight (Take 1) Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern 3:07
18. 10/21/36 previously unreleased Who Loves You? (Take 3) Benny Davis and J. Fred Coots 3:14
19. 11/19/36 previously unreleased Pennies from Heaven (Take 2) Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke 3:13
20. 11/19/36 previously unreleased That's Life I Guess (Take 2) Peter DeRose and Sam M. Lewis 3:18
21. 4/1/37 previously unreleased They Can't Take That Away from Me (Take 2) Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin 2:54
22. 4/1/37 previously unreleased Don't Know If I'm Comin' or Goin' (Take 2) Lee Wainer and Lupin Fien 2:45
23. 5/11/37 Columbia C3L40 1964 I'll Get By (Take 2) Roy Turk and Fred E. Ahlert 3:06
24. 5/11/37 Columbia C3L40 1964 Mean to Me (Take 2) Roy Turk and Fred E. Ahlert 3:05

Disc eight[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 6/15/37 Columbia CL6129 1951 Me, Myself, and I (Take 1) Irving Gordon, Allan Roberts, Alvin Kaufman 2:35
2. 6/15/37 Columbia CL6163 1951 Without Your Love (Take 2) Johnny Lange and Fred Stryker 2:52
3. 6/30/37* Columbia C3L21 1964 They Can't Take That Away from Me Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin 3:23
4. 6/30/37* Columbia C3L21 1964 Swing Brother Swing Clarence Williams, Lewis Raymond, Walter Bishop Sr. 1:50
5. 11/3/37* Columbia C3L21 1964 I Can't Get Started Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke 2:45
6. 1/6/38 Columbia C3L40 1964 My First Impression of You (Take 3) Charles Tobias and Sam H. Stept 2:50
7. 1/6/38 Columbia 36208 1945 When You're Smiling (Take 4) Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay 3:00
8. 1/6/38 Columbia 36335 1945 I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me (Alternate take) Clarence Gaskill and Jimmy McHugh 2:48
9. 1/6/38 Columbia JG34837 1976 If Dreams Come True (Take 2) Edgar Sampson and Benny Goodman 3:03
10. 1/12/38 Columbia C3L40 1964 Now They Call It Swing (Take 1) Walter Hirsch, Vaughan DeLeath, Norman Cloutier, Lou Handman 3:04
11. 1/12/38 Columbia C3L21 1964 On the Sentimental Side (Take 1) Johnny Burke and Jimmy Monaco 3:04
12. 1/12/38 Columbia JG34837 1976 Back in Your Own Backyard (Take 2) Al Jolson, Billy Rose, Dave Dreyer 3:14
13. 5/11/38 previously unreleased You Go to My Head (Take 2) J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie 2:52
14. 5/11/38 previously unreleased The Moon Looks Down and Laughs (Take 2) Bert Kalmar, Sid Silvers, Harry Ruby 2:54
15. 5/11/38 previously unreleased If I Were You (Take 1) Bob Emmerich and Buddy Bernier 2:27
16. 5/11/38 previously unreleased Forget If You Can (Take 1) Jack Manus, Ken Upham, Leonard Joy 2:49
17. 6/23/38 Legacy C3K 47724 1991 Having Myself a Time (Take 2) Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger 2:29
18. 6/23/38 Legacy C3K 47724 1991 Says My Heart (Take 2) Frank Loesser and Burton Lane 2:43
19. 6/23/38 previously unreleased I Wish I Had You (Take 1) Bud Green, Al Stillman, Claude Thornhill 2:59
20. 6/23/38 Columbia C3L40 1964 I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (and Throw Away the Key) (Take 2) Jimmy Eaton and Terry Shand 2:06
21. 9/15/38 Columbia JG34837 1976 I Can't Get Started (Take 2) Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke 2:46
22. 9/15/38 Columbia JG34837 1976 I've Got a Date with a Dream (Take 2) Mack Gordon and Harry Revel 2:41

Disc nine[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 10/31/38 previously unreleased April in My Heart (Take 2) Helen Meinardi and Hoagy Carmichael 3:12
2. 10/31/38 Columbia C3L40 1964 They Say (Take 2) Paul Mann, Stephan Weiss, Edward Heyman 3:03
3. 11/28/38 previously unreleased You're So Desirable (Take 2) Ray Noble 2:53
4. 11/28/38 previously unreleased You're Gonna See a Lot of Me (Take 2) Al Goodhart, Manny Kurtz, Al Hoffman 2:58
5. 11/28/38 previously unreleased Hello, My Darling (Take 2) Frank Loesser and Friedrich Hollaender 2:42
6. 11/28/38 previously unreleased Let's Dream in the Moonlight (Take 1) Raoul Walsh and Matt Malneck 2:54
7. 1/17/39* Legacy C3K 47724 1991 I Cried for You Gus Arnheim, Arthur Freed, Abe Lyman 2:29
8. 1/17/39* Legacy C3K 47724 1991 Jeepers Creepers Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer 3:01
9. 1/20/39 previously unreleased That's All I Ask of You (Alternate take) R.E. Pope 2:58
10. 1/30/39 Columbia C3L40 1964 More Than You Know (Take 2) Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu 3:04
11. 3/21/39 previously unreleased You're Too Lovely to Last (Take 2) Teddy McRae, C. Beal, E. Frazer 3:01
12. 3/21/39 previously unreleased Under a Blue Jungle Moon (Take 2) R. Conway and N. Brisben 3:03
13. 12/13/39 Legacy C3K 47724 1991 Night and Day (Take 2) Cole Porter 3:02
14. 2/29/40 Columbia C3L40 1964 Falling in Love Again (Take 2) Sammy Lerner and Friedrich Hollaender 2:46
15. 6/7/40 Columbia C234849 1977 Laughing at Life (Take 2) Nick Kenny, Charles Kenny, Bob Todd, Cornell Todd 2:54
16. 9/12/40 Columbia C3L40 1964 I'm All for You (Take 2) Jerry Bresler and Larry Wynn 3:27
17. 9/12/40 Columbia C3L40 1964 I Hear Music (Take 2) Frank Loesser and Burton Lane 2:39
18. 9/12/40 Columbia C3L40 1964 The Same Old Story (Take 2) Michael Field, Newt Oliphant 3:10
19. 9/12/40 previously unreleased The Same Old Story (Take 3) Michael Field, Newt Oliphant 3:09
20. 9/12/40 Epic SN6042 1964 Practice Makes Perfect (Take 2) Don Roberts and Ernest Gold 2:35
21. 9/12/40 Columbia C3L40 1964 Practice Makes Perfect (Take 3) Don Roberts and Ernest Gold 2:42
22. 9/12/40 previously unreleased Practice Makes Perfect (Take 4) Don Roberts and Ernest Gold 2:43

Disc ten[edit]

Track Recorded Catalogue Released Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 10/15/40 previously unreleased St. Louis Blues (Take 2) W.C. Handy 2:50
2. 10/15/40 previously unreleased Loveless Love (Take 2) W.C. Handy 3:15
3. 3/21/41 Columbia C234849 1977 Let's Do It (Take 2) Cole Porter 2:56
4. 3/21/41 previously unreleased Georgia on My Mind (Take 2) Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael 2:59
5. 3/21/41 previously unreleased Georgia on My Mind (Take 3) Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael 3:05
6. 3/21/41 previously unreleased Romance in the Dark (Take 2) Sam Coslow and Gertrude Niesen 2:18
7. 3/21/41 previously unreleased Romance in the Dark (Take 3) Sam Coslow and Gertrude Niesen 2:14
8. 3/21/41 previously unreleased Romance in the Dark (Take 4) Sam Coslow and Gertrude Niesen 2:26
9. 3/21/41 Columbia C234849 1977 All of Me (Take 2) Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks 2:59
10. 3/21/41 Columbia C234849 1977 All of Me (Take 3) Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks 3:57
11. 5/9/41 Time-Life STL3 1978 God Bless the Child (Take 2) Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog 2:58
12. 5/9/41 Legacy C3K 47724 1991 God Bless the Child (Take 3) Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog 2:32
13. 5/9/41 previously unreleased Am I Blue? (Take 2) Harry Akst and Grant Clarke 2:45
14. 5/9/41 previously unreleased Am I Blue? (Take 3) Harry Akst and Grant Clarke 2:45
15. 8/7/41 previously unreleased Jim (Take 2) Nelson Shawn, Caesar Petrillo, Edward Ross 3:04
16. 8/7/41 previously unreleased Gloomy Sunday (Take 2) Rezső Seress, László Jávor, Sam M. Lewis 3:12
17. 8/7/41 previously unreleased Wherever You Are (Take 2) Cliff Friend and Charles Tobias 2:59
18. 8/7/41 previously unreleased Mandy Is Two (Take 2) Johnny Mercer and Fulton McGrath 2:59
19. 8/7/41 previously unreleased It's a Sin to Tell a Lie (Take 2) Billy Mayhew 3:08
20. 8/7/41 previously unreleased It's a Sin to Tell a Lie (Take 3) Billy Mayhew 3:07
21. 8/7/41 Legacy C3K 47724 1991 Until the Real Thing Comes Along (Take 2) Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, Alberta Nichols, Mann Holiner 3:18
22. 1/26/44* V-Disc 672 1948 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear from Me Bob Russell and Duke Ellington 4:58
23. 1/26/44* V-Disc 28 1948 I Love My Man Billie Holiday 4:05

* live recordings

References[edit]

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Hoard, Christian. "Review: Lady Soul". Rolling Stone: 214–217. November 2, 2004.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  4. ^ "Discogs Billie Holiday – Lady Day (The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia) (1933-1944)". Discogs. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  5. ^ Giddins, Gary. Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944. Legacy Records: insert booklet, p. 27
  6. ^ "Billie Holiday - I'm in a Low-Down Groove Mood". Hitparade.ch.