The Billie Holiday Story

If you like Billie Holiday, you'll love this. I do, and I did.

Nina Kristofferson tells Holiday's story from childhood on through a little chat to the audience - and talking to God! - but primarily through her music, around a dozen songs chosen for their relevance and impeccably performed. She has Holiday's physical mannerisms in performance perfectly and her phrasing is spot-on but, above all, she invests each song with deep emotion. In particular, that most moving of songs, "Strange Fruit", sends the same shiver through the listener as it did in Holiday's own performance right from the first notes.

She is accompanied on piano by the excellent Warren Wills and together they produce a splendid recreation of a very idiosyncratic and powerful singer.

It's very much a show for the aficionado but if you like jazz and the blues but haven't yet tried Billie Holiday, give it a go!