A hundredth birthday is a good reason to release a new
Billie Holiday
collection, but it's also true that it's been a little while since
Legacy
has returned to this particular well. As of 2015, it's been 14 years since the complete box
Lady Day
and eight years since the nice double-disc distillation, so a single-disc set like
The Centennial Collection
is indeed welcome.
didn't limit itself to the
Columbia
catalog for this set, either. Drawing from sides recorded for
Brunswick
,
Vocalion
OKeh
Commodore
, and
Decca
between 1937 and 1945, this 20-track collection contains the original (and often best-known) performances of many of her best-known songs, including "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)," "The Very Thought of You," "Them There Eyes," "God Bless the Child," "Gloomy Sunday," and "Strange Fruit." This by no means touches on everything the great
Holiday
recorded -- there is nothing from
Verve
, for instance -- this is nevertheless better than most single-disc sets on touching upon her best work. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine