BRIDGES Page

tocracy of jazz Counts and Dukes and Kings. But Billie Holiday was not that kind of “lady.” She was a unique and tremendous talent who had escaped the Harlem pimps and risen to the small pantheon of great jazz singers. When Billie died, something of jazz died with her. But in these recordings, she is beyond life, beyond death. Even as we mourn her, Billie Holiday’s singing says, Sursum corda.

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