Product Details

• Actors: Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington
• Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: V.I.E.W. Video
• DVD Release Date: October 30, 2001
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005OSLK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,821 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Description

Witness Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Ethel Waters, Ruth Brown, and many other of the Jazz & Blues innovators who paved the way for today's Soul, R&B, & Pop music.

Timeless vocal performances highlight this extraordinary musical DVD compilation filled with complete, live performances by the great American divas of the Blues and Jazz. These distinguished and ground-breaking women not only sang their way into legend, but were the major force in American musical culture.

Priceless footage of America's and history's greatest Jazz and Blues divas (complete songs, not just tantalizing excerpts) such as Billie Holiday backed by the most extraordinary band ever formed (featuring Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan), the great Bessie Smith in her only film appearance, Dinah Washington on stage at The Apollo Theatre, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, and many, many others. This marvelous showcase of classic American talent is in many instances the artist's only performance ever recorded on camera, and many of the selections were thought to be lost forever.

Relive a bygone era and see the 'Ladies' who created an art form in these rare, classic performances thought to be lost forever. Recaptured in this filmed salute to the women who started it all, witness these stars like never before in this entertaining DVD masterpiece that is nothing short of a classic.

Selections include:
1. St. Louis Blues by Bessie Smith
2. Darkies Never Dream by Ethel Waters
3. Quicksand by Ethel Waters (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
4. Fine and Mellow by Billie Holiday (with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan)
5. When You Lose Your Money Blues by Ida Cox (with Jesse Crump)
6. That Lonesome Road by Sister Rosetta Tharp
7. Nobody's Sweetheart Now by Connee Boswell
8. Lean Baby by Dinah Washington
9. Only A Moment Ago by Dinah Washington
10. Have A Good Time by Ruth Brown
11. The Man I Love by Lena Horne
12. Unlucky Woman by Lena Horne (with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra)
13. You're Mine You by Sarah Vaughan
14. I Cried For You by Helen Humes (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
15. Why Don't You Do Right? By Peggy Lee (with Benny Goodman & His Orchestra)

16. I Cover the Waterfront by Peggy Lee (with Dave Barbour)

DVD BONUS FEATURES:
Digital Dolby Audio
Digitally Mastered Audio & Video
Instant Access to Songs
Instant Access to Instrumental Solos
English Narration

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Sings the Blues, December 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ladies Sing The Blues (DVD)

The songs may be "complete" as the DVD claims, but what isn't mentioned is the inane narration over the beginning of just about every clip on the disk, which spoiled much of the enjoyment for me. I bought the DVD for the Connee Boswell clip (love those Boswell Sisters), but after the narration there's just eighteen seconds of the song left. By the way, even accounting for the age/rarity of the clips, the quality of them often leaves something to be desired, as well.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent documentary featuring American legends of song., July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ladies Sing the Blues [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This acclaimed compilation brings together full-length, rare performances from the great ladies of song: Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Ethel Waters. Hailed by Entertainment Weekly as "a grand parade of American miracles," Ladies captures the excitement of the most distinctive female vocalists in Jazz.

#1313 (60 min, B&W, Hi-Fi)

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good additional material for class, February 17, 2005

By 

Scott R. Harding (St. Johns, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ladies Sing the Blues [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I have to agree with one of the earlier reviewers: the complete "videos" on this tape are fantastic, but the narrated voice-over (delivered in a near-monotone) during the opening bits isn't of much use. Still, I use portions of this tape in my Jazz History class, and at least the narration backs up the info that students are given in their textbooks. In all, I like certain clips in here better than the Burns "Jazz" anthology simply because they ARE complete.