“A transfixing documentary about the master Jazz singer.” –Variety
Crafted from extraordinary unheard interviews, and restored key performances into color for the first time, BILLIE is the story of the singer who changed the face of American music, and the journalist who died trying to tell it.
BILLIE draws upon hundreds of newly unearthed interviews conducted in the 1970s by late journalist and to-be Holiday biographer Linda Lipnack Kuehl with Jazz luminaries—including Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus and Sylvia Syms—with Holiday’s friends and lovers, even with the FBI agents who kept her under surveillance. The film is rich with archival film and photos, with key footage colorized and brought to life as never before.
Raw and unflinching, BILLIE captures an untold story of exploitation, racism, addiction and politics, and offers a rare look at the tumultuous and tragically brief life of the woman behind one of music’s most influential artists.
Available to Rent January 28 - February 28
$12 Rental Fee – After “unlocking” a purchase, you’ll have 7 days to start watching. Once you begin, you’ll have 72 hours to finish watching.
Ella Fitzgerald - Just One of Those Things
https://www.sopacnow.org/events/ella-fitzgerald-just-one-of-those-thingsIt will “stir your soul.” -The Boston Globe
The film uses never-before-seen images and unheard interviews to bring Ella Fitzgerald to life and to tell the story of her music and of a black woman who makes her career in the face of horrifying racism.
Here is an Ella the world never knew – tough, thoughtful, funny, a dazzling musical innovator. The film also uncovers Ella’s commitment to the battle for Civil Rights; and it explores the conflicts that always haunted this intensely private woman: the struggle to reconcile her hunger for adoring audiences with her longing for a domestic life with her husband and son. At a time when she was the biggest singing star in the world, her pianist and friend Oscar Peterson said Ella was “the loneliest woman in the world.” But as Jamie Cullum says “her music is one of the reasons it’s worth being on this planet.”
Featuring interviews with: Tony Bennett, Jamie Cullum, Laura Mvula, Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Cleo Laine, Andre Previn, Norma Miller, Patti Austin, Itzhak Perlman, Margo Jefferson, Will Friedwald, and a rare interview with Ella’s son, Ray Brown Jr.
Narrated by Sharon D. Clarke
Available for Rent January 28 - February 28
$12 Rental Fee – After “unlocking” a purchase, you’ll have 7 days to start watching. Once you begin, you’ll have 72 hours to finish watching.
Adonis Rose & New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s NOJO 7
https://www.sopacnow.org/events/adonis-rose-new-orleans-jazz-orchestra/
Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!
The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra was formed in 2002 and was designed to celebrate and fortify the American Jazz portfolio while providing infrastructure for developing the New Orleans Jazz Industry. Led by Artistic Director Adonis Rose, this 20-piece big band has an ever-increasing repertoire that exemplifies the influence of Jazz as the grandfather of all modern American music.
Ticket Details
$15 – Single Ticket
$25 – Group Ticket (intended for a single household)
Virtual Venue Information
This livestreamed event is being hosted on a virtual platform called Mandolin.