Strange Fruit

Released on Atlantic Records in 1972 (catalog number SD 1614), Strange Fruit is a posthumous compilation gathering all sixteen tracks Billie Holiday recorded for Commodore Records, the independent New York label run by Milt Gabler. The collection draws from two sessions: four tracks from the landmark April 20, 1939 session at World Broadcasting Studio, and the remainder from 1944 follow-up recordings.

The album takes its name from its most famous and historically significant recording, the 1939 protest song that Time magazine would later name the "Song of the Century." As a document, the album preserves Holiday at her most politically engaged, capturing performances that Columbia Records had refused to release out of fear of commercial backlash from Southern markets. The Commodore sessions represent an artistic and moral act of courage, both by Holiday and by Gabler, who agreed to record material that mainstream labels would not touch.

The 1972 LP was released in a gatefold cover and includes some previously unissued alternate takes, making it the definitive archival collection of Holiday's Commodore work. It stands as essential documentation of jazz and blues at the intersection of artistry and political conscience.