Drawn from Billie Holiday's recordings for Verve in 1955 and 1956, this CD presents a singer of profound intensity and inventive phrasing, an artist able to make strong musical statements with the complex, bittersweet grain that time and experience had left on her voice. The swing tunes contain untold joys; the depths of sorrow concentrated in the ballads, such as "I Don't Want to Cry Anymore," defy description. The accompanying bands are superb, with guitarist Barney Kessel and the underrated pianist Jimmy Rowles heard throughout and Harry Edison, Benny Carter, and Ben Webster providing fills and solos that seem to effortlessly complement Holiday's voice. "Ill Wind," in particular, is a masterpiece in which the sequence from Holiday's vocals to the horn solos is in perfect sympathy. --Stuart Broomer