Although she didn’t technically have the greatest voice and range, the legendary Billie Holiday had an intangible ability to bring the full of her life to bear on whatever she sang, and every song she touched, no matter how trite, gained poignancy because of it. This set is the first of four single discs drawing highlights from the ten-CD Lady Day box that chronicles Holiday’s time at Columbia Records and covers the years 1934 to 1936. – Steve Leggett