On July 17, 1958, exactly one year before she died, Billie Holiday performed on the television show “Art Ford’s Jazz Party.” Ford, like most jazz lovers, was a Holiday devotee, and he almost sounds ...
In 1959, during what would be the final months of her life, Billie Holiday was unwell. The singer—who had honed her art in the brothels of Baltimore, fronted orchestras led by Count Basie and Artie ...