Billy Holiday - Travelin' Light - Classic Records, 1939-1951

Facts Throughout the course of musical history there have been few female vocalists who have exuded the kind of influence that the late Billie Holiday did, both during her tempestuous life and career and in death. Her records have impacted on everyone from Dinah Washington to Aretha Franklin to Amy Winehouse and it's difficult to guess at the direction that popular music might have taken, had Billie's recordings not been there to guide it. Billie crammed a lot of music into a career that barely lasted 25 years, and there have been all sorts of anthologies that take an overview of her quarter of a century of recording. This new Jasmine collection concentrates primarily on one decade - the 1940s, when Billie was probably at her peak as a singer and finally able to record songs that she personally identified with, rather than songs that her producer thought were what her audiences ought to hear. In this collection you can hear many of the songs that have become forever associated with 'Lady Day', whether through her own versions or via revivals by the likes of Diana Ross and Alison Moyet. Songs like 'That Old Devil Called Love', 'God Bless The Child', the famously infamous 'Strange Fruit' and our title track 'Trav'lin' Light' are woven into the very fabric of what made Billie Holiday such a musical icon, whose music lives on more than 60 years after she left us. Beautiful music, beautifully produced arranged and sung, beautiful audio, another beautiful listening experience from your friendly neighbourhood Jasmine label!