The Hidden World of Billie Holiday (3CDs, Music Brokers)

Nicknamed “Lady Day” by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Billie Holiday has had a profound influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her singing style, heavily inspired by jazz instrumentalists, explored a new way of shaping phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal skills and improvisational talents, which more than made up for her limited vocal range and lack of musical education. This compilation contains many of the musical milestones of Holiday’s career such as the first hit “I cried for you” from the mid-30s, which emerged from their collaboration with Teddy Wilson, which later became a jazz standard. Of course, most of her most important companions and influences, such as Lester Young, Benny Goodman or Kenny Burrell, can also be heard here. From 1947 Holiday was at the absolute height of her career and the recording on CD3 Billie live at Storyville makes this time immortal. That night Billie was in great shape, the beat bubbling out of her unique style of bringing a story to life and every word became her own experience.