This was Billie Holiday's penultimate album, recorded when her body was telling her enough was enough. During the sessions with arranger Ray Ellis she was drinking vodka neat, as if it were tap water. Despite her ravaged voice (the sweetness had long gone), she was still an incredible singer. The feeling and tension she manages to put into almost every track set this album as one of her finest achievements. "You've Changed" and "I Get Along Without You Very Well" are high art performances from the singer who saw life from the bottom up.
"Lady in Satin", Billie Holiday's penultimate studio album, is both revered and reviled by her fans. Recorded in February 1958, a mere 17 months before her death at the age of 44, it was said to be her personal favorite. These historical recordings show that her voice was ravaged by hard times, alcohol and drugs. Yet, heartache always informed her art, and she delivers here with unequated poignancy twelve songs that she'd never recorded before. We celebrate Billie's Holiday 100th birthday with this new and ultimate edition of "Lady In Satin", In addition to all of the original album tracks, all newly remixed and mastered in 24-Bit, the first CD is enhanced by the presence of three bonus tracks, including for the very first time a true stereophonic version of "The End Of A Love Affair"
This volume of the Classics Chronological series places Billie Holiday's music in historical context to an unusual degree, as her recordings for the Columbia and Commodore labels have until now been reissued separately because of copyright and catalog ownership. The songs parceled together here were recorded at a crossroads in Holiday's career. The setting for the first - in what would constitute great changes in her life and music - was Barney Josephson's Café Society Downtown. Located at 2 Sheridan Square, this was Manhattan's first fully integrated nightclub. Its clientele included a number of politically progressive intellectuals and social activists. When she first appeared at the club on December 30, 1938, Billie Holiday was known as a spunky vocalist who presented lively renditions of pop and jazz standards in what was considered an unusual yet accessible style…
Nowadays, the majority of those with two ears and a heart recognise her magnitude, whatever their usual musical preferences may be. This unanimity undoubtedly stems from the fact that Billie's voice reaches our greatest depths. Nobody has been troubled by her range, or by limited technical means the singer was offered, although she never needed anything other than her voice to shake the entire planet. Perhaps because Billie sang simply of love and love's desillusions, and the listeners are moved even without particularly grasping the textes. However, what we may hear is the result of a double paradow: vocal mastery, the placing of each syllabe, the perfect expression of each word confirms a tremendous virtuosity, the fruit of long experience; the emphasis put on the songs' lyrics, not often despairing all considered, come more from the despair of the interpreter than their actual contents…