1933-1937

his collection of 24 chronologically arranged songs captures Lady Day at an early, critical juncture in her career. Just a few years earlier, Holiday had served a brief prison sentence for prostitution, and despite a lot of hard living, she had begun to make a name for herself singing in small New York clubs. It was in 1933 that legendary producer John Hammond Jr. heard Billie Holiday and arranged for a recording session, her first, with a nine-piece group led by Benny Goodman.
This collection begins with "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch", the two songs that Billie recorded in her initial recording session in 1933; the rest of the songs come from 1936 and 1937. Most are about 2-1/2 minutes long, with Holiday taking one chorus and letting talented instrumentalists like Teddy Wilson, Lester Young and Bunny Berigan do the rest. Even at this early stage, her abundant talents are on display, whether she's having her way with standards like "Summertime" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me", novelties like "One Two, Button Your Shoe", the Gershwin chestnut "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" or the downright sublime "Me, Myself & I".|