Absorbing archive of a troubled jazz genius
Given she had a tough, racy life that catapulted her from poverty and child prostitution to becoming the world’s greatest jazz vocalist before her untimely death aged 44, it would be hard to muck up a documentary about the late great Billie Holiday. Thankfully, this doesn’t.
Nipping in just ahead of an upcoming biopic, directed by Lee Daniels (Empire, Monster’s Ball), out in May 2021, this compelling doc’s USP is a rich archive of previously unheard audio testimonies from those who knew Holiday best, including fellow artists such as Tony Bennett and Count Basie as well as Billie’s first pimp (she was ‘turning tricks’ aged 13). These revelatory interviews were conducted for a planned biography by the journalist Linda Kuehl, who died in shady circumstances in 1979. Doing Kuehl’s story justice as well as Holiday’s proves a tough task but director James Erskine commits to it.
The ‘spicy’ nightlife of 1930s Harlem is marvellously recreated and the sensational sides of Billie’s life – the drug benders and unapologetic bisexuality – are balanced by thoughtful social context and a serious appreciation of her voice’s power, climaxing with a skin-prickling rendition of the lynching protest ballad Strange Fruit. LI-Z