Billie Holiday - Essential

The live recordings included here are among the very best from Billie Holiday’s final years. Part of the motivation behind the 1956 Carnegie Hall concert was to promote Billie’s autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. The music was attuned entirely to Billie’s character part, reinforced by readings from her book by Gilbert Millstein. Although recorded in 1956, the LP was issued in 1961, nearly two years after Billie’s passing on July 17, 1959, at the age of 44.