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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
For any lover of Jazz this is a must have in their collection. The outstanding track on this album for me is "Fine and Mellow", where Billie sits surrounded by some of the most notable Jazz musicians of the day; Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Roy elderidge, Coleman Hawkins, Vic Dickenson, Ben Webster, Danny Baker, and Milt Hinton, on December 8, 1957. She seems relaxed and content singing with twinkling, sharp and expressive eyes.
What this collection shows is her immense gentle talent driven by compulsion, as well as intellect. This is not just a sad lady prone to drug and alcohol addiction, but a smouldering superstar, ambitious and self aware.
From her film performances there is the unforgettable "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans ?", with Louis Armstrong, and "The Saddest Tale" with Duke Ellington. Also another TV performance featuring Mal Waldren on piano with a playful version of "What a Little Moonlight Can Do". Unfortunately the Teddy Wilson Orchestra is not featured, but there is a lovely photograph of Billie and Teddy, incorporating the Brunswick record label, of that hit song.
This collection really is wonderful, with audio interviews including Billy Eckstine, Corky Hale and Sylvia Syms, complete Recording Histories, and five Audio Performances of Billie Holliday. There is an introduction and brief life story with still shots by Robert Herridge from 1957, and short Biographies written and collected by Ashley Kahn in the accompanying booklet.
What this collection shows is her immense gentle talent driven by compulsion, as well as intellect. This is not just a sad lady prone to drug and alcohol addiction, but a smouldering superstar, ambitious and self aware.
From her film performances there is the unforgettable "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans ?", with Louis Armstrong, and "The Saddest Tale" with Duke Ellington. Also another TV performance featuring Mal Waldren on piano with a playful version of "What a Little Moonlight Can Do". Unfortunately the Teddy Wilson Orchestra is not featured, but there is a lovely photograph of Billie and Teddy, incorporating the Brunswick record label, of that hit song.
This collection really is wonderful, with audio interviews including Billy Eckstine, Corky Hale and Sylvia Syms, complete Recording Histories, and five Audio Performances of Billie Holliday. There is an introduction and brief life story with still shots by Robert Herridge from 1957, and short Biographies written and collected by Ashley Kahn in the accompanying booklet.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
36 of 36 people found the following review helpful
A Collection Made With Love
16 Jun 2006
Format:DVD
What an amazing DVD of collected Billie Holiday snips. Lots of things that someone spent considerable time pulling together, not just video but audio recordings and interviews. This was my first time seeing Billie sing, after having listened to her for the past 25 years on albums and CDs. Wanted to see how she stood, how she held her mouth, all that. I was mesmerized watching her; dazzled and calmed all at the same time, watching her nonchalantly let lyrics float from her mouth, easy as 1,2,3. You have to remember that most clips come from later in her career; they didn't have MTV in the 1930s! Billie's rendition of Fine and Mellow on this DVD is worth the purchase price all by itself. I had dreams about her after watching this collection last night. Fine and mellow dreams.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
A treat
24 Mar 2006
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Many rare appearances and very insightful biographical data are all enclosed in this nifty presentation of Lady Day. Very moving, and always enduring, to the innermost recesses of one's heart. I really enjoyed it.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Precious but not ultimate
14 Dec 2007
Format:DVD
Indeed, the footage of Lady Day is preciously rare, they say, so this DVD might contain basically everything. However, the film with Duke Ellington's orchestra is not complete. They shouldn't have cut it after the part where Billie appears, regardless of the fact that this is definitively not the best Ellington perfomance of the period (to say the least...). Also, the fabulous "Sound of Jazz" performance with Young, Hawkins, Eldridge, Mulligan, Webster and Dickenson is seen and heard in much better shape on the "Sound of Jazz" DVD (the one with Henry Red Allen, Count Basie, Miles Davis and others)...
On the other hand, it's a great thrill to see and hear Billie in other rare TV occasions (even as her self-destructive life obviously took its toll, she is still impressive even in her last TV appearance...)... The very useful "timeline" feature mentions, among other things, an appearance on British television; it would be very nice if that footage would surface at some point....
The interviews audios (with Billie, John Hammond...) and the rehearsal with Jimmy Rowles on piano are also very useful and interesting...
BTW; the Bessie Smith flick is a welcome addition (as is the Armstrong big band number), but they should have presented the entire film...
Also; although the interactive part is useful and amusing and the interviews at times amazing, the selection of songs for the audio part should have been a bit more "ultimate"...
Also, there are some mistakes in the liner notes: James P. Johnson is the musical director, not the director of "St. Louis Blues" short film while, although Jo Jones is listed as the drummer on "Fine and Mellow" video-number, the announcer in the beginning of the clip mentions Ossie Johnson at the drums (still, in this case the announcer might be wrong...).
All in all, this is a must have for a Lady Day fan, but the editors and producers should have done better...
On the other hand, it's a great thrill to see and hear Billie in other rare TV occasions (even as her self-destructive life obviously took its toll, she is still impressive even in her last TV appearance...)... The very useful "timeline" feature mentions, among other things, an appearance on British television; it would be very nice if that footage would surface at some point....
The interviews audios (with Billie, John Hammond...) and the rehearsal with Jimmy Rowles on piano are also very useful and interesting...
BTW; the Bessie Smith flick is a welcome addition (as is the Armstrong big band number), but they should have presented the entire film...
Also; although the interactive part is useful and amusing and the interviews at times amazing, the selection of songs for the audio part should have been a bit more "ultimate"...
Also, there are some mistakes in the liner notes: James P. Johnson is the musical director, not the director of "St. Louis Blues" short film while, although Jo Jones is listed as the drummer on "Fine and Mellow" video-number, the announcer in the beginning of the clip mentions Ossie Johnson at the drums (still, in this case the announcer might be wrong...).
All in all, this is a must have for a Lady Day fan, but the editors and producers should have done better...
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