SKU: 884360385

Billie Holiday: Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth

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Billie Holiday: Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth"Revelatory . . . one of the most briskly revealing pieces of jazz biography that I've read." Richard Brody, The New Yorker When Billie Holiday first stepped into a recording studio in November 1933, it marked the beginning of what is arguably the most remarkable and influential career in twentieth century popular music. Her voice weathered countless shifts in popular taste, and today new reincarnations of her continue to arrive, most recently in the

"Revelatory . . . one of the most briskly revealing pieces of jazz biography that I've read." --Richard Brody, The New Yorker

When Billie Holiday first stepped into a recording studio in November 1933, it marked the beginning of what is arguably the most remarkable and influential career in twentieth-century popular music. Her voice weathered countless shifts in popular taste, and today new reincarnations of her continue to arrive, most recently in the form of singers like Amy Winehouse and Adele.

Most of the writing on Holiday has focused on the tragic details of her life--her prostitution at the age of fourteen, her heroin addiction and alcoholism, her series of abusive relationships--or tried to correct the many fabrications of her autobiography. But Billie Holiday strips away the myths and puts her music front and center, staying close to her artistry, her performance style, and the self she created and put on record and onstage.

Drawing on a vast amount of new material that has surfaced in the last decade, critically acclaimed jazz writer and musician John Szwed presents not just a biography, but a meditation on Billie Holiday's art and its relation to her life. Along the way, he illuminates her influences, her uncanny voice and rhythmic genius, her signature songs--including Strange Fruit and God Bless the Child--and her enduring legacy as the greatest jazz singer of all time.

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SKU: 884360385

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4.7 ★★★★★
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Krisha
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 4
Worth Watching Crime Drama
I almost stopped watching this film early on because I found the behavior of the cashier's wife so annoying and insufferable. I stuck with it though. It is almost as if it is a crime re-enactment show because of the voiceover narration. In one of the close to final scenes, I thought "This is Kubrick, alright." It is interesting that I watched a film yesterday, "Dead End" in which some of the characters believe that the only life worth living is one with material wealth as do some of the characters in this film. How sad. Maybe that belief is what kills what has real worth. Maybe it is that belief that leads one to a dead end.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2025
R
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Rob
Fort Morgan, US
★★★★★ 5
Excellent.
kubrick's first i think. an excellent b/w noir crime film. very influential. sets the standard. must see.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2026
B
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bhogan16
Lake Worth, US
★★★★★ 5
2 Early Kubrick Films in 1 Thrilling Package
The most important thing for the buyer to know about The Killing Criterion Blu-Ray is that it collects 2 of Stanley Kubrick’s earlier films: The Killing (1956) and Killer’s Kiss (1955). Even though the Killer’s Kiss title is not on the box, it is present as an extra, along with its trailer. Other than that, you can expect the usual from a Criterion Collection release. For those who don’t know, that means terrific quality and presentation, with loads of extra supplementary material. As far as the movies themselves go — unlike Fear and Desire, I can actually recommend these two movies as movies, as opposed to morbid curiosities of Kubrick fanatics. They are both pretty intense crime thrillers and just a ton of fun. This is Kubrick before he makes big studio movies with big budgets, but after he’s gained more of the experience and sophistication he would later be known for. The product feels raw, gritty, sometimes intimate, and gives you a look at his NYC roots. Kubrick is still an underdog at this stage in his career. So, would definitely recommend for Kubrick fans, and just crime thriller fans in general
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Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2022
E
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Ethan
Cuba, US
★★★★★ 5
The Mastery of Stanley Kubrick
We're all children of Kubrick aren't we? Is there anything that you can do that he hasn't done? - Paul Thomas Anderson. One of the most true statements about a great director from another great director. Stanley Kubrick's The Killing is a harsh piece of filmmaking that is the true definition of a film noir heist movie. The characters are not glamorous and they are not symphatetic. They are merely real and that is all you need in a movie. These characters move through the intricate plot with the masterful direction of Kubrick guiding them through it and speaking the crisp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson. With that combination The Killing is noir at its finest. A great early masterpiece from Kubrick. This Criterion Collection blu-ray also includes another early Kubrick work, Killer's Kiss, about a boxer who falls in love with a woman who lives next door to him and thus gets caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with her shady boss. A great companion movie for The Killing. But there is one disappointment with this Criterion release. When it was first annouced that they were releasing this film, I had high hopes that they would release the rare Kubrick film Fear and Desire with this, but I was sadly disappointed. Maybe there is a seperate Criterion release for that film in the near future, we can only hope. But all in all this is a great blu-ray, highly recommended for fans of Kubrick or fans of the film noir genre.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2011
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Susan B.
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 5
Stanley Kubrick is a talented director.
If you are interested in the director Stanley Kubrick, you will enjoy his process of direction in this film from 1955.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2026

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