The Ladies Sing The Blues
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DVD details
Actor: Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Lena Horne, Sarah VaughanBrand: VARIOUS
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-10-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: V.I.E.W. Video
DVD Reviews of The Ladies Sing The Blues
DVD Review: Buyer Sings the Blues
Summary: 2 Stars
The songs may be "complete" as the DVD claims, but what isn't mentioned is the inane narration over the beginning of just about every clip on the disk, which spoiled much of the enjoyment for me. I bought the DVD for the Connee Boswell clip (love those Boswell Sisters), but after the narration there's just eighteen seconds of the song left. By the way, even accounting for the age/rarity of the clips, the quality of them often leaves something to be desired, as well.
1
Description of The Ladies Sing The Blues
Witness Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Ethel Waters, Ruth Brown, and many other of the Jazz & Blues innovators who paved the way for today's Soul, R&B, & Pop music.Timeless vocal performances highlight this extraordinary musical DVD compilation filled with complete, live performances by the great American divas of the Blues and Jazz. These distinguished and ground-breaking women not only sang their way into legend, but were the major force in American musical culture.
Priceless footage of America's and history's greatest Jazz and Blues divas (complete songs, not just tantalizing excerpts) such as Billie Holiday backed by the most extraordinary band ever formed (featuring Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan), the great Bessie Smith in her only film appearance, Dinah Washington on stage at The Apollo Theatre, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, and many, many others. This marvelous showcase of classic American talent is in many instances the artist's only performance ever recorded on camera, and many of the selections were thought to be lost forever.
Relive a bygone era and see the 'Ladies' who created an art form in these rare, classic performances thought to be lost forever. Recaptured in this filmed salute to the women who started it all, witness these stars like never before in this entertaining DVD masterpiece that is nothing short of a classic.
Selections include:
1. St. Louis Blues by Bessie Smith
2. Darkies Never Dream by Ethel Waters
3. Quicksand by Ethel Waters (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
4. Fine and Mellow by Billie Holiday (with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan)
5. When You Lose Your Money Blues by Ida Cox (with Jesse Crump)
6. That Lonesome Road by Sister Rosetta Tharp
7. Nobody's Sweetheart Now by Connee Boswell
8. Lean Baby by Dinah Washington
9. Only A Moment Ago by Dinah Washington
10. Have A Good Time by Ruth Brown
11. The Man I Love by Lena Horne
12. Unlucky Woman by Lena Horne (with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra)
13. You're Mine You by Sarah Vaughan
14. I Cried For You by Helen Humes (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
15. Why Don't You Do Right? By Peggy Lee (with Benny Goodman & His Orchestra)
16. I Cover the Waterfront by Peggy Lee (with Dave Barbour)
DVD BONUS FEATURES:
Digital Dolby Audio
Digitally Mastered Audio & Video
Instant Access to Songs
Instant Access to Instrumental Solos
English Narration
Culled from rare black-and-white footage from the early to mid-20th century, this excellent anthology showcases a number of gems from the best and brightest female vocalists in America. There's the radiant "Empress of the Blues" Bessie Smith in her only recorded film appearance singing "St. Louis Blues." The gospel great Sister Rosetta Tharpe delivers a down-home version of "That Lonesome Road," which is contrasted by jazzy and sassy Dinah Washington's "Lean Baby." The immortal Billie Holliday's touching 1957 TV performance of "Fine and Mellow," recorded with saxophonists Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Gerry Mulligan two years before her death in 1959, is the finest clip in this collection. From Ethel Waters and Sarah Vaughan to Lena Horne, Ida Cox, and Peggy Lee, this set shows why women have been the standard bearers of the American vocal tradition. --Eugene Holley Jr.
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