The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945–1959

The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945–1959 is a 10 CD boxset by jazz vocalist Billie Holiday compiling her complete recordings on Verve. It was released in 1992 by Verve.

The Penguin Guide to Jazz says, "The circle is now closed on Holiday's career: the various multi-disc packages allow anyone to follow her from the beginning to the end. There are rarities in this major collection, which includes what are often wryly funny rehearsal tapes with Jimmy Rowles (strange to hear this famously tormented woman laugh and tell jokes), but its main purpose is to provide first-to-last coverage of her major studio years. There is splendid documentation to go with the records."^[1]

Concerning Billie's Best, they go on to call it "a useful pocket edition that samples the big box. There are no fewer than 11 other compilations listed in the Verve catalogue, and of course countless of others of less impeccable provenance, the best of the work there is a pointless duplication: the Jazz Masters discs ... remain good enough."^[1]

Scott Yanow of AllMusic says, "This is a rather incredible collection: ten CDs enclosed in a tight black box that includes every one of the recordings Verve owns of Billie Holiday, not only the many studio recordings of 1952–57 (which feature Lady Day joined by such jazz all-stars as trumpeters Charlie Shavers and Harry 'Sweets' Edison, altoist Benny Carter, and the tenors of Flip Phillips, Paul Quinichette and Ben Webster). Also included are prime performances at Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts in 1945–1947, an enjoyable European gig from 1954, her 'comeback' Carnegie Hall concert of 1956, Holiday's rather sad final studio album from 1959, and even lengthy tapes from two informal rehearsals. It's a perfect purchase for the true Billie Holiday fanatic."^[2]

Ian Carr, writing for Classical Music, says:^[3]

Here we have two sumptuous packages covering virtually the whole output of the most revered and sublime jazz singer – Billie Holiday (1915-1959). The Columbia collection deals with the years 1933-42 (with a couple of tracks from 1958 thrown in), which was her golden period and includes her most beautiful recordings with Teddy Wilson and Lester Young.

A 52-page illustrated booklet gives her biography and details of the recording sessions. The Verve boxed set charts her career from the mid-Forties, when though a heroin addict she was still at the height of her powers, to her tragic decline and death at the age of 44.

There is a wealth of new material including two CDs of actual rehearsal sessions with conversation and anecdotes, tracks from concert performances, and previously unpublished photographs. These two boxed sets brilliantly document the triumphs and tragedy of this 20th-century icon.

Leonard Feather, writing for the LA Times, says:^[4]

Holiday by the 1950s, when almost all these tracks were recorded, had passed her prime. The sui generis timbre had less assurance, giving way at times to raspy, coarsened sounds. Yet right up to the end she had her good days. But Polygram, in assembling this package, threw in everything: good, bad and irrelevant. There are about 35 aborted, rejected, incomplete or imperfect takes; numerous songs are repeated at two or three sessions, though even the annotator acknowledges that her vocals varied little from take to take.

To elongate the contents even further, there are readings from her ghostwritten pseudo-autobiography; Holiday at rehearsal struggling with songs she doesn’t know; various announcements introducing Lady Day, even a couple in German by me (in 1954 I took her on her only European concert tour); conversations by Holiday in the studio and at the homes of friends; Billie’s band playing a six-minute number without her; Holiday talking to her 15-month-old godson; the child banging away at a piano.

Some of this has historical curiosity value for a single hearing, but do great artists have no right to privacy, even posthumously? On Disc 5, “A Fine Romance” shows up eight times. There is one master take and an alternate take; the rest are incomplete takes or false starts. Thus a three-minute performance is expanded into 15 1/2 minutes of mostly wasted space.

There are plus factors here: a 220-page booklet with many photos to remind us of her transcendent beauty; literate essays by critics and musicians; data galore. Disc 1, with many of Norman Granz’s live “Jazz at the Philharmonic” sessions, benefits from the concert immediacy and finds Billie in superb voice. From that point on, it’s a roller-coaster ride tracing her on-and-off nights.

There are several interesting oddities. Billie sings “My Yiddishe Mama” at someone’s home; Oscar Peterson plays organ backing a memorable version of “Yesterdays.”

Her set at the 1957 Newport Festival is described in the notes as “pitiful,” “forlorn,” “enfeebled,” “disoriented” and “painfully out of tune.” Then why release it? Simply to flesh out quality with quantity in the quest for $160.

Ironically, the very last session--in March, 1959, four months before her death at 44 after a losing battle with addiction--found her in remission from these flaws. Ray Ellis provided splendid arrangements, and the repertoire avoids reuse of the same songs that she had recorded too often. (Many of the tunes in this box had been sung definitively during her years on Columbia--now on “Billie Holiday, the Legacy,” a three-CD set--or later on Decca, as collected in “The Complete Decca Recordings” on two CDs.)

It is sad but perhaps inevitable that this magnificent woman, never fully appreciated in her lifetime, is now, 33 years after her death, capitalized on for all she is currently worth.

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Howard McGhee – trumpet
• Willie Smith – alto saxophone
• Wardell Gray, Charlie Ventura, Illinois Jacquet – tenor saxophone
• Dave Barbour – electric guitar
• Milt Raskin – piano
• Charles Mingus – bass
• Davie Coleman – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Buck Clayton – trumpet
• Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet – tenor saxophone
• Tiny Grimes, John Collins – electric guitar
• Ken Kersey – piano
• Curly Russell – bass
• J.C. Heard – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Joe Guy – trumpet
• Georgie Auld – alto saxophone
• Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet – tenor saxophone
• Tiny Grimes – electric guitar
• Ken Kersey – piano
• Al McKibbon – bass
• J.C. Heard – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Howard McGhee – trumpet
• Trummy Young – trombone
• Illinois Jacquet – tenor saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Ken Kersey – piano
• Charlie Drayton – bass
• Jackie Mills – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Bobby Tucker – piano

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Charlie Shavers – trumpet
• Flip Phillips – tenor saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Oscar Peterson – piano
• Ray Brown – bass
• Alvin Stoller – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Joe Newman – trumpet
• Paul Quinichette – tenor saxophone
• Freddie Green – guitar
• Oscar Peterson – piano
• Ray Brown – bass
• Gus Johnson – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Carl Drinkard – piano
• Red Mitchell – bass
• Elaine Leighton – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Buddy DeFranco – clarinet
• Jimmy Raney – electric guitar
• Red Norvo – vibraphone
• Sonny Clark, Beryl Booker – piano
• Red Mitchell – bass
• Elaine Leighton – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Charlie Shavers – trumpet
• Herb Ellis – electric guitar
• Oscar Peterson – piano
• Ray Brown – bass
• Ed Shaughnessy – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
• Willie Smith – alto saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Bobby Tucker – piano
• Red Callender – bass
• Chico Hamilton – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Charlie Shavers – trumpet
• Tony Scott – clarinet
• Budd Johnson – tenor saxophone
• Billy Bauer – electric guitar
• Billy Taylor – piano
• Leonard Gaskin – bass
• Cozy Cole – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Jimmy Rowles – piano
• Artie Shapiro – bass

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
• Benny Carter – alto saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Jimmy Rowles – piano
• John Simmons – bass
• Larry Bunker – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Tony Scott – piano

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Charlie Shavers – trumpet
• Tony Scott – clarinet
• Paul Quinichette – tenor saxophone
• Kenny Burrell – electric guitar
• Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Rowles – piano
• Aaron Bell – bass
• Lennie McBrowne – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
• Ben Webster – tenor saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Jimmy Rowles – piano
• Joe Mondragon – bass
• Alvin Stoller – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
• Ben Webster – tenor saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Jimmy Rowles – piano
• Red Mitchell – bass
• Alvin Stoller – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Roy Eldridge – trumpet
• Coleman Hawkins – tenor saxophone
• Kenny Burrell – electric guitar
• Tony Scott, Carl Drinkard – piano
• Carson Smith – bass
• Chico Hamilton – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Buck Clayton – trumpet
• Tony Scott – clarinet
• Al Cohn – tenor saxophone
• Kenny Burrell – electric guitar
• Carl Drinkard – piano
• Carson Smith – bass
• Chico Hamilton – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
• Ben Webster – tenor saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Jimmy Rowles – piano
• Red Mitchell – bass
• Alvin Stoller – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
• Ben Webster – tenor saxophone
• Barney Kessel – electric guitar
• Jimmy Rowles – piano
• Red Mitchell – bass
• Larry Bunker – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Mal Waldron – piano
• Joe Benjamin – bass
• Jo Jones – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Buck Clayton – trumpet
• Coleman Hawkins, Georgie Auld – tenor saxophone
• Mal Waldron – piano
• Milt Hinton – bass
• Don Lamond – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Ray Ellis – conductor, arranger
  • Jimmy Cleveland – trombone
  • Romeo Penque – bass clarinet, alto saxophone
  • Romeo Penque – tenor saxophone
  • Kenny Burrell – electric guitar
  • Janet Putnam – harp
  • Hank Jones – piano
  • Joe Benjamin – bass
  • Osie Johnson – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Ray Ellis – conductor, arranger
  • Harry "Sweets" Edison – trumpet
  • Jimmy Cleveland – trombone
  • Gene Quill – alto saxophone
  • Barry Galbraith – electric guitar
  • Hank Jones – piano
  • Milt Hinton – bass
  • Osie Johnson – drums

• Billie Holiday – vocals
• Ray Ellis – conductor, arranger
  • Harry "Sweets" Edison, Joe Wilder – trumpet
  • Billy Byers – trombone
  • Al Cohn – tenor saxophone
  • Danny Bank – baritone saxophone
  • Barry Galbraith – electric guitar
  • Hank Jones – piano
  • Milt Hinton – bass
  • Osie Johnson – drums

• Norman Granz (Original Mercury, Clef and Verve Sessions), Leonard Feather (The Seven Ages of Jazz Concert), Leroy Lovett (2/14/55 Clef Session), Tony Scott (6/6/56 and 6/7/56 Verve Sessions), Ray Ellis (MGM Studio Sessions) – producer
• Bob Porter, Creed Taylor, Jackie Mills, Norman Granz – technician [Concert Recordings First Prepared for Release]
• Andrew Nicholas, Joseph M. Palmaccio, Patrick Ryan, Rick Rowe, Suha Gur, Thomas "Curly" Ruff – digital engineering
• Phil Schaap – producer, remastering, rehearsal editing, restoration, research
• David Lau – design
• Peter Pullman – booklet editor
  • Cliff Preiss, Matthew Brown – assistance
• Joel E. Siegel – interviewer
• Joel E. Siegel, Phil Schaap, Bob Porter, Buck Clayton – liner notes
• Herman Leonard, Chuck Stewart, Bob Parent, Robin Carson, Paul J. Hoeffler, Jimmy Rowles, Nancy Miller Elliott, Frank Driggs Collection, Ray Avery Collection, Verve Records Files – photography