The Complete Commodore & Decca Masters


The Complete Commodore & Decca Masters is a 3CD box set of recordings by Billie Holiday, released by Hip-O Records in 2009, compiling all the master takes released as 78rpm singles by Commodore and Decca Records. It includes an essay by Ashley Kahn.

Background

In 1939, Columbia Records refused to let Billie Holiday record the anti-lynching protest song "Strange Fruit". Milt Gabler invited her to record it for his small specialty label Commodore Records, and Columbia granted her a one-time exemption from her contract to do so, in which she recorded four songs. "Strange Fruit", backed with "Fine and Mellow", turned out to be the biggest selling record of her career. Although she continued to record for Columbia, in 1944, following the 1942–44 musicians' strike, Holiday permanently left Columbia for Commodore. Small labels like Commodore had been quicker to settle with the musician's union than large labels like Columbia, thus Holiday was able to return to recording quicker by switching to the smaller label. The Commodore tracks were more dominated by torch songs and dramatic ballads than her swing oriented Columbia material had been, although her later Columbia sides show she had already been evolving in this direction.
Later the same year, Holiday then followed Gabler to Decca Records, to record "Lover Man". Decca had allowed Gabler to keep his own label, while also being employed by them, so long as he directed all potential hits to Decca. Both Holiday and Gabler suspected "Lover Man" had the potential to be a hit, thus it became her first Decca single, and indeed another of her biggest hits. "Lover Man" was notable for featuring a string section, and all her Decca tracks typically featured string arrangements and even choral backing, rather than jazz combos. This was Holiday's choice, as strings were often used in the white pop records of the day, and when she recorded "Lover Man" she wanted the same sound offered to artists like Bing Crosby, and specifically her friend Frank Sinatra. During this same period, Holiday began performing in concert halls rather than nightclubs, and her live performances became more theatrical than jazz, with many of these dramatic songs becoming centrepieces of her set. Holiday continued to record for Decca throughout the 1940s, before again switching to Norman Granz's Clef label in the next decade.
The orchestras Holiday recorded with while at Commodore and Decca were variously led by Toots Camarata, Bob Haggart, Bill Stegmeyer, John Simmons, Buster Harding, Sy Oliver, and Gordon Jenkins.
"Big Stuff" was a Leonard Bernstein single, with Billie doing a new vocal to a song Bernstein had written as the prologue to his 1944 ballet Fancy Free. The B-side was another Bernstein song from the ballet, without Holiday – "Fancy Free " performed by the Ballet Theatre Orchestra Under Direction of Leonard Bernstein.
"You Can't Lose a Broken Heart" and "My Sweet Hunk o' Trash" were collaborations with Louis Armstrong.
"Guilty" was the only track not originally released as a 78rpm record, first appearing on the much later compilation LP The Blues Are Brewin' in 1958.

Track listing

Disc three: The Decca Recordings Continued

Billie Holiday's Commodore and Decca recordings have been compiled many times, beginning with 78rpm albums in the 1940s and then 10 inch vinyl LPs. Some compilations also include many alternate takes of the songs, but only the master takes originally released as 78rpm singles are included in this set.

Personnel

April 20, 1939 (tracks 1-1 to 1-4)

Source:

March 25, 1944 (tracks 1-5 to 1-8), April 1, 1944 (tracks 1-9 to 1-12) & April 8, 1944 (tracks 1-13 to 1-16)

October 4, 1944 (tracks 2-1 & 2-2) & November 8, 1944 (track 2-3)

August 14, 1945 (tracks 2-4 to 2-6)

January 22, 1946 (tracks 2-7 & 2-8)

March 13, 1946 (track 2-9)

April 9, 1946 (tracks 2-10 & 2-11)

December 27, 1946 (tracks 2-12 & 2-13)

February 13, 1947 (tracks 2-14 to 2-17)

December 10, 1948 (tracks 2-18 & 2-19) & December 10, 1948 (tracks 3-1 & 3-2)

August 17, 1949 (tracks 3-3 & 3-4)

August 29, 1949 (tracks 3-5 & 3-6)

September 8, 1949 (tracks 3-7 & 3-8)

September 30, 1949 (tracks 3-9 to 3-11)

October 19, 1949 (tracks 3-12 to 3-15)

March 8, 1950 (tracks 3-16 & 3-17)