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The Ladies Sing the Blues
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780803023130
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
ISBN: 0803023138
Label: View Video
Languages: English (Original Language),
Manufacturer: View Video
MPN: D2313D
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: View Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 30, 2001
Running Time: 60 minutes
Studio: View Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 30, 2001
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Editorial Review:
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.
The "Ladies" who created an art form and sang their way into legend… a bygone era is recaptured in this filmed salute to the women who started it all… whose turn of phrase made musical history.
ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME PERFORMANCES
Priceless footage of the great American divas (complete songs, not just tantalizing excerpts) Billie Holiday backed by the most extraordinary band ever formed-Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Benny Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan. The great Bessie Smith in her only film appearance...Dinah Washington from the stage of The Apollo Theatre…Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, and others, singing their classics. For many of them, this was their only performance on camera…certainly some of their greatest performances! Performances thought to be lost to time!
MUSICAL SELECTIONS
1 St.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great singers great singing!
I have to address the voice over first. I use this dvd for my class to inform students who never heard of most of these singers. I find the voice over puts the era in perspective. The dvd is a knock out. Beautifully sung throughout. There's style, intimacy and passion. I don't know a better example to show young adults the great and original singers the 30s were turning out.
Rating: - Just right for my needs
I used this as resource and display for a workshop on Jazz vocalists for the Sitka Jazz Festival. It worked out just fine-the footage and commentary was first rate.
Rating:  - Good additional material for class
I have to agree with one of the earlier reviewers: the complete "videos" on this tape are fantastic, but the narrated voice-over (delivered in a near-monotone) during the opening bits isn't of much use. Still, I use portions of this tape in my Jazz History class, and at least the narration backs up the info that students are given in their textbooks. In all, I like certain clips in here better than the Burns "Jazz" anthology simply because they ARE complete.
Rating:  - Buyer Sings the Blues
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.
Rating: - THESE LADIES WERE THE PIONEERS.
They had prepared the way for so many female singers of today. Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, and many more. With the stars that are jam packed inside this video, makes the video worth seeing. So if blues and the ladies that sing them interests you, then by all means, take advantage of this must see video; you'll be glad you did.
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