Billie Holiday was just a couple months away from her 43rd birthday when she entered Columbia Records’ 30th Street Studio on February 18, 1958 to record Lady in Satin.  The album controversially promised a new, glamorous setting for the artist, who had recently been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver following a lifetime of troubles including alcohol and drug dependency, abusive relationships, stints in reform school and prison, and even a period as a teenaged prostitute.  The LP’s original liner notes by producer Irving Townsend noted that “The use of strings and voices, punctuated with jazz-inspired solos here and there, is a new setting for this great jazz singer.”  Though audiences and critics were immediately divided by Lady in Satin, with its orchestral arrangements by Ray Ellis, it’s since been acknowledged as a classic and a defining statement for Lady Day.  It’s just been reissued as Lady in Satin: The Centennial Edition, a deluxe 3-CD set featuring two discs’ worth of previously unissued material.

Holiday had acknowledged many of her personal demons in the 1956 autobiography Lady Sings the Blues.  Although the book (ghostwritten by William Dufty based on interviews with its subject) has since been picked apart by her biographers for its glaring inaccuracies, it nonetheless captured Holiday’s singular voice, lacking in self-pity and filled with a certain, stinging kind of wisdom and elegance.  Despite having predicted to journalists that an early death would await her, Holiday pressed forward to dress in satin for the album that would become her most famous long-player.  She was happy to be paired with conductor-arranger Ray Ellis, whose instrumental album Ellis in Wonderland had been a favorite.  Ellis later recalled being greeted by a “shabby, dirty” Holiday to select the album’s material.  Holiday picked eleven songs for the LP which she hadn’t previously recorded; all were from the Great American Songbook, with lyrics that spoke to her.  There were songs by Rodgers and Hart (“Glad to Be Unhappy” and “It’s Easy to Remember”), Hoagy Carmichael (“I Get Along Without You Very Well”), Alec Wilder (“I’ll Be Around”) and Holiday fan Frank Sinatra (“I’m a Fool to Want You”).

Though rehearsals were reportedly called off or unattended by the singer, she arrived at 30th Street Studio on February 18 for the first of three consecutive evenings (11:30 p.m. – 2:30 a.m.) of recording with Ellis, producer Townsend and engineer Fred Plaut.  The 30+ musicians of the orchestra were augmented by Holiday’s regular trio: pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Osie Johnson.  Imbibing gin throughout the session, Holiday wasn’t in her best frame of mind, and her voice by this point best allowed for breathy, speak-singing.  But when interpreting a lyric, the old magic most definitely hadn’t gone away.  After three fraught evenings (which included some moments of true inspiration from Holiday, such as her last-minute addition of the song “You’ve Changed” after a quick run to Colony Records), the album was completed.

Though Ray Ellis was initially disappointed in the results of the sessions, he changed his mind when listening to the assembled album.  The recordings were deeply rooted in emotional honesty; the satiny arrangements only added another poignant dimension to the frayed but powerful recitations provided by the singer.  Holiday was pleased enough to ask Ellis back for a second outing; despite his trouble recording Lady in Satin, he agreed.  Their final collaboration, Billie Holiday, was recorded for MGM Records and wouldn’t be released until after her untimely death on July 17, 1959.  Lady in Satin became her final LP released in her lifetime.

The album was released in June 1958 in mono with a twelve-track line-up; the stereo issue dropped “The End of a Love Affair” and used a different version of “I’m a Fool to Want You” incorporating Takes 2 and 3 whereas the mono LP included the complete Take 3.  Legacy Recordings’ new 3-CD edition includes, on Disc One, the eleven-track stereo album plus the newly-created stereo master of “The End of a Love Affair,” the mono versions of that song and “I’m a Fool to Want You,” and Holiday’s Columbia recording of “Fine and Mellow” from December 1957, a few weeks prior to the Satin recording sessions.  Discs Two and Three are drawn from the February 18-20 session reels, totaling 25 tracks and almost two hours of never-before-commercially-released complete outtakes.  Maria Triana has remastered at Sony’s Battery Studios.

The CD edition, spearheaded by Michael Cuscuna in the U.S. and Daniel Baumgarten in France, features a 12-page booklet with new liner notes by Sebastian Danchin.  It’s available as an import from Legacy and Sony Music Entertainment France, and is, as of this writing, very reasonably priced at Amazon U.S. and U.K.!  Lady in Satin: The Centennial Edition is also available as a digital download from sources including Amazon, iTunes and HD Tracks.  You’ll find order links below for this enlightening collection, a tribute to the artistry of Billie Holiday.

Billie Holiday with Ray Ellis and His Orchestra, Lady in Satin: The Centennial Edition (Columbia/Legacy/Sony Music France 88875082822, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. I’m a Fool to Want You (Take 2/3)
2. For Heaven’s Sake (Take 2)
3. You Don’t Know What Love Is (Take 4)
4. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Take 6)
5. For All We Know (Take 5)
6. Violets for Your Furs (Take 7)
7. You’ve Changed (Take 4)
8. It’s Easy to Remember (Take 8)
9. But Beautiful (Take 2)
10. Glad to Be Unhappy (Take 8)
11. I’ll Be Around (Take 5)
12. The End of a Love Affair (Stereo Master – Take 4 with vocal overdub Take 8)
13. I’m a Fool to Want You (Mono Master – Take 3)
14. The End of a Love Affair (Mono Master – Take 4 with vocal overdub Take 8)
15. Fine and Mellow

CD 2

1. You Don’t Know What Love Is (Takes 1-3)
2. I’ll Be Around (Takes 1-2)
3. I’ll Be Around (Takes 3-4 plus inserts)
4. For Heaven’s Sake (Take 1)
5. But Beautiful (Take 1)
6. For All We Know (Take 1)
7. For All We Know (Take 2)
8. For All We Know (Takes 3-4)
9. It’s Easy to Remember (Takes 1-2)
10. It’s Easy to Remember (Takes 3-7)
11. I’m a Fool to Want You (Take 1)
12. I’m a Fool to Want You (Takes 2-3)
13. The End of a Love Affair (Takes 1-4)

CD 3

1. The End of a Love Affair (Vocal Overdub Takes 1-4)
2. The End of a Love Affair (Vocal Overdub Takes 5-7)
3. Glad to Be Unhappy (Takes 1-2)
4. Glad to Be Unhappy (Take 3)
5. Glad to Be Unhappy (Takes 4-7)
6. You’ve Changed (Takes 1-3)
7. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Takes 1-2)
8. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Takes 3-4)
9. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Take 5)
10. Violets for Your Furs (Takes 1-2)
11. Violets for Your Furs (Takes 4-5)
12. Violets for Your Furs (Take 6)

CD 1, Tracks 1-11 from Lady in Satin, Columbia CS 8048, 1958
CD 1, Track 12 & all tracks on CD 2 & 3 previously unreleased
CD 1, Tracks 13-14 from Lady in Satin, Columbia CL 1157, 1958
CD 1, Track 15 from The Sound of Jazz, Columbia CS 8040, 1958