Genuis of Lady Day

Rating:
Summary: Bio gets eclipsed by the extra features ...
Review: This collection seems to have become available via several different international labels recently. At first glance, the selling point for GENIUS is a documentary about Lady Day's life. Clocking in at approx. 30 minutes, you're obviously getting the bare-bones version of a complex individual's life, skimming over her life story with some of the better-known facts about her upbringing and career, and with an emphasis on photos and film clips of the singer rather than interviews. A competent overview, but I've seen better video bios elsewhere.

For Holiday fans the main course of this DVD lies in the bonus features. Some of the menus aren't too enlightening (e.g., the discography, bibliography, lyrics to "Strange Fruit," and a list of the tunes she wrote or co-wrote). Yet the DVD is largely redeemed by a collection of rare Lady Day footage, mostly from the two-year period prior to her death in 1959. While Billie is not in top form either vocally or in her physical appearance -- some clips show her off better than others -- she remains captivating to the point where you don't want to take your eyes off her for a second. Some of the video is pretty rough in quality, though (so buyer beware), and many of the clips are roughly edited together.

I've always been a big fan of her final, early-1959 appearance. Though only months away from her death, she looks quite well and sounds as good as she got this late in her career. Lastly is the complete 17-minute 1950 Count Basie short feature (in watchable yet only fair quality), with Billie looking and sounding in fine form on two numbers. Child piano prodigy "Sugar Chile" Robinson practically steals the show with some entertaining boogie-woogie and banter with Basie, who closes the show with one big-band number. If nothing else, this DVD gets some rare clips in circulation. Fans and collectors should take notice, while others should be aware that there are many better examples of Billie's singing in print, particularly reissued on CDs.