Genius of Lady Day
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DVD details
Artist: Billie HolidayDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Import, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 65 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Jazz Memories Spain
DVD Reviews of Genius of Lady Day
DVD Review: Awful Quality, But Content Still Shines
Summary: 4 Stars
This DVD is strictly for Billie Holiday fans. The audio quality for most of the tracks is fine, but the video quality ranges from marginally acceptable to very, very poor. For these reasons, it is unlikely that the disc will be appreciated by anyone other than true fans of Billie Holiday.
However, it does offer several video performances not available elsewhere. When I first spotted this in the store, and the packaging promised a short feature of Billie with Count Basie, I simply couldn't believe it. But I took it home and, sure enough, there it was. Many of the other video clips are also unavailable elsewhere. Many of the film clips are complete, and others just offer a few precious bars.
There is a short clip of Billie singing just a single verse of "My Man". She sings the phrase, "He isn't true, he beats me too" and the camera pans to the audience, revealing the laughing face of Louis McKay, the user / loser who was the last of several abusive men in her life. The appearance of Mr. McKay is startling to say the least; as any true fan of Billie Holiday knows, he was hardly a knight in shining armor, and that fact that the camera catches him smiling as she sings the words, "He beats me too" literally sent chills down my spine. It's just one of many surprises that this disc has to offer.
Among the other interesting clips is one of Billie singing "Travelin' Light" with Mal Waldron. She is in poor voice, but looks absolutely lovely, and, like several of the other clips, the song is presented complete.
But the highlight of the video for me was the two songs with Count Basie, God Bless the Child and Now Baby or Never. Especially in the latter number, Now baby or Never. Even though the video quality is atrocious, we get a good sense of the true genius of Lady Day (hence, this video is aptly named). During that clip, the long shots are so fuzzy that you can hardly make out Billie as she swings her way through the number, but, the clip also contains several wonderful if brief close-ups, and we get a glimpse of the facial expressions and expert styling that was Lady Day at her finest. Like the famous clip of her singing Fine and Mellow from the Sound of Jazz special, it manages to convey a small part of what a live performance of Lady day must have been like. One can only imagine, of course, how much more effective she was in her prime, as there is no surviving video record of her prior to 1950 (except the 1935 short with Duke Ellington, which is included here, and the 1947 feature film, New Orleans, and neither of those were filmed before a live audience in a club or theatre). The result is that this video really does live up to its name, if one can just manage to get past the extremely poor video quality of the film clips. This is not a DVD for those whose appreciation of this great artist is either marginal or casual. But if you are a true lover of Billie Holiday's craft, you will find that it's certainly a worthy and at times exciting addition to your library.
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