Billie
               
Director: James Erskine
Year: 2019
Rating: 8.0
Billie Holiday sang from somewhere that most of us have never been and likely never want to go. Her deep sultry voice told the story of her addictions to drugs, men, music, sex and self-destruction. It reflects her days as a prostitute on the streets of Baltimore at 13-years old, of so many broken love affairs with both sexes, of her time in prison, of the men who abused her and stole her money. I have a bunch of her albums - but rarely listen to them because I know the pain that goes with them. Listen to Strange Fruit and try not to tear up. Every note ripped from her soul. These days I prefer the singing of Ella, Nancy Wilson, Dakota Staton or Dinah Washington when I am in the mood for jazz vocals - their music doesn't take me down dark alleys. But damn could Billie sing. 

 

This is a fascinating documentary that intertwines two lives that takes it places you might not expect for a biographical documentary. It begins not with Billie's story but that of Linda Lipnack Kuehl, a Jewish white woman who became obsessed with Billie though she had never met her. She spent years on a biography of her and interviewing anyone who was still alive that knew Holiday - including friends and bandmates. These interviews were taped. Linda was found dead in 1971 before finishing the biography - an apparent suicide but a suspicious one - and her tapes gathered dust till this film. Her tapes act as the narrator as people talk about Billie - her childhood friends of her days on the street, of her arriving in NYC and beginning to sing in small clubs, being discovered by John Hammond, appearing at the Apollo, the tours through the south and bigotry, her increasing reliance on drugs from pot to heroin, her lousy choice in men that indicated a certain masochism within her. It is a sad and tragic story but interspersed within this is her voice. There are a lot of clips of her live performances. The one of Strange Fruit will wilt you. She died in 1959 at the age of 44. But fortunately, Lady Day was well recorded - in bands with Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie - and with her as the star. I have always found her last recordings to be my favorites. She has lost some of the timbre in her voice but the pain is all there. Directed by James Erskine. 98 minutes.

My Man

 

Oh, my man I love him so

He'll never know

All my life is just despair

But I don't care

When he takes me in his arms

The world is bright, all right

What's the difference if I say

I'll go away

When I know I'll come back on my knees some day?

For whatever my man is

I am his forever more