Billie Holiday

John Szwed’s swift, conversational and yet detail-rich new biography, Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth, communicates its artist-first priorities in the subtitle, and then makes good on them throughout … That’s about as fine a centenary-year gift as anyone had a right to expect.

Guardian

A musicologist’s appreciation of the jazz singer… a marvel.

Independent

Illuminating account restores to the singer the dignity of a true artist.

Observer

Insightful, investigative… entertaining and illuminating … a wonderfully engaging and revealing look at the great Lady Day.

The Scotsman

Szwed’s book offers a fresh attempt to understand and explain the nature and scope of Holiday’s achievement.

Times Literary Supplement

As with the best of Holiday’s music, this elegant and perceptive study is restrained, nuanced, and masterfully carried out.

Kirkus

This is as good an insight into Lady Day as you are ever going to get … It’s not just highly recommended, it’s essential reading for anyone who ever played a Holiday CD.

Bebop Spoken Here blog

John Swezed provides facsinating insight into a body of work that still haunts and beguiles.

Choice magazine

A beautifully nuanced portrait of one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century – and one whose place in the pantheon of those who used the instrument inside them is assured.

Jazz Breakfast