Gradually, my collection grew, as I began buying every used album collection of hers I could get my hands on, including a box set put out by Reader's Digest in the early 70's. I particularly liked --and still do-- her earlier recordings, before she signed to Verve. She was peppier and fuller of voice. She was happier then, the heroin addiction she suffered from hadn't yet begun to take its toll on her life and career.

One of my favorite tracks from that period is "What A Little Moonlight Can Do", from the mid 1930's. It somehow seems ageless, a giddy girl oooh-oooh-ooohing about the light of a full moon and its effects on her love life. The way she kind of slurs some of the words like perhaps she was a bit tipsy when she recorded it, but drunk in a good way, not like the way she sounds on one of her final albums, the heartbreaking "Lady In Satin". Still, it's a beautful album if you can handle it; I listen to it maybe once every several months.

Recommended CDs:

The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vols. 1-9, 1933-42 (Columbia)

This is her best work, IMO; buy the whole box set if you're really into her, or pick and choose each of the separately-sold volumes. Each album has at least 15 tracks.

Verve Jazz Masters 12: Billie Holiday 1952-56 (Verve - 314-519825-2)

Sixteen of Billie's best performances on Verve. The voice is weaker & harsher, but the emotions are just as raw.

Some of my other favorite songs sung by Billie: Billie's Blues, Stars Fell On Alabama, Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do, Good Morning Heartache, I Loves You Porgy, Lover Man, My Man, I Can't Get Started With You, Them There Eyes, You're My Thrill, Solitude...