Billie Holiday – MRQE

Strange Fruit

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In 1937, after seeing a photo depicting the lynching of a black man in the south, Bronx-born high school teacher Abel Meeropol wrote a poem entitled “Strange Fruit” that begins with the words: “Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root.” He set the poem to music and a few years later convinced Billy holiday to record it in a legendary heartbreaking performance. Intertwining jazz genealogy, biography, performance footage, and the history of lynching, director Joel Katz fashions a fascinating discovery of the lost story behind a true American classic. Written by Excerpted from Coolidge Corner Theatre Program Update

Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday (TV)

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday integrates film and video performances, recordings, words from her controversial autobiography (read by actress Ruby Dee) and interviews with artists who played with her (pianist Mal Waldron, trumpeter Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison), Milt Gabler (owner of Commodore and a producer at Decca), author Albert Murray and vocalists Carmen McRae and Annie Ross.

Billie

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Lady Day was one of the greatest jazz vocalists the world ever heard. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. The tapes have never been heard. Now they form the basis of an atmospheric, multi-layered documentary that captures the many complex facets of a proud black woman, violent drug addict, loyal friend, vindictive lover and unforgettable singer of God Bless The Child, Saddest Tale and the haunting Strange Fruit.

“Jazz”

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Jazz is a ten part series that explores the evolution and the genius of Americas greatest original art form, focusing on the extraordinary men and women who could do something remarkable create art on the spot. Jazz celebrates their profoundly enduring, endlessly varied, and infinitely alluring music in the context of the complicated country that gave birth to and influenced it, and was in turn transformed by it.

New Orleans

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Emperor Jones

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Unscrupulously ambitious, Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and, through bluff and bravado, finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island.