New from The Nation (my second byline there), about Billie Holiday, at this point an underrated technician, especially since the high profile movies all focus on other things.

Thanks to Darcy James Argue for texting me the sentence, “One of the first things director Lee Daniels told his composer was that he doesn’t care for jazz.” I had idly contemplated writing about Holiday in light of the new movie but that text was the true starting gun.

Also, Mark Stryker reworked the opening for me, making it much better. Like WAY better. Additional thanks to Hyland Harris and Loren Schoenberg. However, the faults of the article are mine alone, not my helpful readers…