The catalog of her recordings is vast. Issued for the hundredth anniversary of Billie Holiday’s birth, The Centennial Collection is a good survey of her 1935-45 years, considered her prime time by most critics. She was often an apt interpreter of her lyrics, bringing life to work that might have been flat or cliché in the mouths of lesser talents, and was accompanied by many of the era’s finest jazz musicians. Many of the songs on The Centennial Collection have become standards, including “All of Me” and “God Bless the Child.” The album includes “Strange Fruit,” a poetic indictment of lynching and racism.
