Billie Holiday

Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday tells us the story of one of jazz’s greatest singers ever. Colleagues such as Carmen McRae, Annie Ross, Mal Waldron, Buck Clayton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and Milt Gabler offer their first-hand perspectives.

Cohen Film Collection introduces this classic short staring Duke Ellington, featuing a brief vocal by a 19-year-old Billie Holiday, and a performance of Ellington’s jazz composition along symphonic lines. Ellington plays his symphonic jazz piece, “A Rhapsody of Negro Life,” with his orchestra against slice-of-life background scenes.

A gambling hall owner relocates from New Orleans to Chicago and entertains his patrons with hot jazz by Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and others.

After escaping from prison, the unscrupulous Brutus Jones bluffs and manipulates his way into becoming emperor of a small Caribbean island.