Ladies Sing the Blues [VHS]

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.

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 the greatest performances! Performances thought to be lost to time!

V.I.E.W. Video is proud to present "THE LADIES SING THE BLUES"…a gallery of those women who were the major force in American musical culture. See these stars like you've never heard them before! An entertaining masterpiece. A classic for your library.
SELECTIONS:
1 St. Louis Blues- Bessie Smith
2 Darkies Never Dream- Ethel Waters
3 Quicksand- Ethel Waters with Count Basie & His Orchestra
4 Fine and Mellow- Billie Holiday with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young,ect...
5 When You Lose Your Money Blues- Ida Cox with Jesse Crump
6 That Lonesome Road Sister- Rosetta Tharp
7 Nobody's Sweetheart Now- Connee Boswell
8 Lean baby- Dinah Washington
9 Only A Moment Ago- Dinah Washington
10 Have A Good Time- Ruth Brown
11 The Man I Love- Lena Horne
12 Unlucky Woman- Lena Horne with Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra
13 You're Mine You- Sarah Vaughan
14 I Cried For You- Helen Humes with Count Basie & His Orchestra
15 Why Don't You Do Right?- Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman & His Orchestra
16 I Cover The Waterfront- Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour

Amazon.com
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.