Billie Holiday: The Life and Artistry of Lady Day

If ever there were a poster child for the notion that great art requires great suffering, jazz singer Billie Holiday was that person. Raped at age 10, jailed for prostitution at 14, Holiday's childhood was “a horrible nightmare.” Raised by a teen mother who didn't know how to take care of her, Holiday endured a life of suffering, some of it self-inflicted (heroin addiction), some of it visited upon her (a string of abusive relationships). Holiday died in 1959—only 44 but looking much older—with a cop stationed outside her hospital room, arrested on her deathbed for narcotics possession. But during her troubled life, Holiday also managed to create some great music. After her “discovery” by the legendary John Hammond when she was 18, Holiday worked with giants like Duke Ellington, Count Basie (whose tenor saxophonist, Lester Young, anointed her “Lady Day”), and Artie Shaw, as well as leading her own band and writing (“God Bless the Child”) and performing some of the greatest standards (“Lover Man,” “Strange Fruit”) in the American music catalogue. All of this material is covered in Billie Holiday: The Life and Artistry of Lady Day, which breaks no new ground (and contains no interviews), but features great film footage, including the equivalent of a “music video” with Ellington and some excerpts from Scenes of New Orleans, a 1947 film that features Holiday performing with Louis Armstrong. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (S. Graham)