Musical perfection. I will never tire of Billie’s Columbia recordings. It’s remarkable that there has never been an official comprehensive release of them on LP….this series in the late 80s early 90s came closest but volume 8 and volume 9 only made it to vinyl in Brazil and are impossible to find. Some people take issue with the no noised sound on these compilations but I think they sound great. The CDs -gasp- sound great too. Of course there is a comprehensive release on a cd box set. Still it’s my opinion that this music is aesthetically far more pleasing when listening to it on vinyl.
I think this is the greatest American music ever made by it’s greatest singer produced in many cases by its greatest producer, John Hammond, in many cases with it’s greatest musicians (Lester Young and other Basie cohorts manage to cram in so much perfection on these 3 minute sides!) on it’s greatest record label (Columbia). Pure greatness.
