Ladies Sing the Blues

Witness Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Dina Washington, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Ethel Waters, Ruth Brown, and many other of the Jazz & Blues innovators who paved the way for today’s Soul, R&B, & Pop music.

Timeless vocal performances highlight this extraordinary musical DVD compilation filled with complete, live performances by the great American divas of the Blues and Jazz.  These distinguished and ground-breaking women not only sang their way into legend, but were the major force in American musical culture.

Priceless footage of America’s and history’s greatest Jazz and Blues divas (complete songs, not just tantalizing excerpts) such as Billie Holiday backed by the most extraordinary band ever formed (featuring Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan), the great Bessie Smith in her only film appearance, Dinah Washington on stage at The Apollo Theatre, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, and many, many others. This marvelous showcase of classic American talent is in many instances the artist’s only performance ever recorded on camera, and many of the selections were thought to be lost forever.

Relive a bygone era and see the “Ladies” who created an art form in these rare, classic performances thought to be lost forever. Recaptured in this filmed salute to the women who started it all, witness these stars like never before in this entertaining DVD masterpiece that is nothing short of a classic.

“A grand parade of American miracles!”  -Entertainment Weekly

 

Selections include: 

Bessie Smith – St. Louis Blues

Ethel Waters – Darkies Never Dream

Ethel Waters – Quicksand (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)

Billie Holiday – Fine and Mellow (with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Gerry Mulligan)

Ida Cox – When You Lose Your Money Blues (with Jesse Crump)

Sister Rosetta Tharp – That Lonesome Road

Connee Boswell – Nobody’s Sweetheart Now

Dinah Washington – Lean Baby

Dinah Washington – Only A Moment Ago

Ruth Brown – Have A Good Time

Lena Horne – The Man I Love

Lena Horne – Unlucky Woman (with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra)

Sarah Vaughan – You’re Mine You

Helen Humes – I Cried For You (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)

Peggy Lee – Why Don’t You Do Right? (with Benny Goodman & His Orchestra)

Peggy Lee – I Cover the Waterfront (with Dave Barbour)