Billie Holiday: Ladies Sing the Blues & Beyond--with Singers Cassandra Wilson and Catherine Russell
For Billie Holiday’s centennial celebration, we follow her from her beginnings through a complex life of troubles and musical triumphs, her compelling “autumn” voice and untimely passing at age 44. Biographers John Szwed and Robert O’Meally discuss Lady Day’s style and significance, while Cassandra Wilson describes and sings her approach to the Billie Holiday oeuvre. Singer Catherine Russell describes reaching back to recreate classic blues and jazz. From our archives, we hear Nina Simone and Bonnie Raitt praising their blues heroines in story and song.
HOUR ONE
Open Bed: God Bless the Child Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: The Centennial Collection, Columbia
Open Bed: Travelin' All Alone Billie Holiday
Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday, Columbia/ Legacy
excerpt: I Can't Get Started Lester Young
The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve, Polygram
Reading from Lady Sings the Blues Gilbert Millstein
The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve, Polygram
I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You) Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: The Centennial Collection, Columbia
Billie's Blues Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: The Centennial Collection, Columbia
No Regrets Billie Holiday and her Orchestra
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-1944, Columbia
Instrumental: The Man I Love Lester Young
The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve, Polygram
The Man I Love Billie Holiday
Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday, Columbia/ Legacy
Me, Myself and I Billie Holiday (w/ Lester Young)
Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday, Columbia/ Legacy
Darn That Dream Billie Holiday
The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve, Polygram
My Man Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: The Complete Decca Recordings, MCA
Travelin' Light Billie Holiday
The Essential Billie Holiday: Songs of Lost Love, Verve
Instrumental: Good Morning Heartache Cassandra Wilson
Forward By Day, Columbia
Everything Happens to Me Billie Holiday
The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve, Polygram
Strange Fruit Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: The Complete Commodore Recordings, GRP Records
Body and Soul Billie Holiday
The Essential Billie Holiday: Songs of Lost Love, Verve
Don't Explain Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: Lady in Autumn--The Best of the Verve Years, Verve
Good Morning Heartache Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: Lady in Autumn--The Best of the Verve Years, Verve
excerpt: Ill Wind Billie Holiday
The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve, Polygram
excerpt: Body and Soul Billie Holiday
The Essential Billie Holiday: Songs of Lost Love, Verve
Gloomy Sunday Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: The Centennial Collection, Columbia
Lady Sings the Blues Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: Lady in Autumn--The Best of the Verve Years, Verve
excerpt: All or Nothing At All Billie Holiday
The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve, Polygram
Solitude Billie Holiday
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-1944, Columbia
God Bless the Child Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday: The Centennial Collection, Columbia
End Bed: Just Friends Billie Holiday
The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve, Polygram
CLIP: Nina Simone
HOUR TWO
Open Bed: Crazy He Calls Me Cassandra Wilson
Coming Forth by Day, Sony
Open Bed: Everybody Loves My Baby Catherine Russell
Strictly Romancin', World Village
Your Mother's Son-in-Law Billie Holiday with Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-1944, Columbia
Take Me for a Buggy Ride Bessie Smith
The Essential Bessie Smith, Columbia/ Legacy
I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl Nina Simone
Sugar in My Bowl: The Very Best of Nina Simone 1967-1972, RCA
Gimme a Pigfoot (and a Bottle of Beer) Billie Holiday
The Complete Decca Recordings, MCA
Instrumental: Digging Dyke The International Sweethearts of Rhythm
Women in Jazz - 40 Years, Jass
I'm a Mighty Tight Woman Sippie Wallace
Sippie Wallace Vol.2, 1925-1945, Document
I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues Billie Holiday
The Complete Commodore Recordings, Commodore
CLIP: Bonnie Raitt
Women Be Wise Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt, Warner Bros.
SEGMENT: Catherine Russell
Instrumental: I'll Be Seeing You Cassandra Wilson
Coming Forth By Day, Sony
Baby Get Lost Billie Holiday
The Complete Decca Recordings, MCA
Billie's Blues Cassandra Wilson
Coming Forth By Day, Sony
CLIP: Cassandra Wilson
Don't Explain Cassandra Wilson
Coming Forth By Day, Sony
As Time Goes By Billie Holiday
The Complete Commodore Recordings, Commodore
Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? Billie Holiday with Louis Armstrong and His Band
New Orleans, The Soundtrack Factory
End Bed: It Ain't Necessarily So Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Christ of the Andes, Smithsonian Folkways