Few jazz singers have become icons like Billie Holiday. In With
Billie, we hear the voices of those people who knew Billie best: piano
players and dancers, pimps and junkies, lovers and narcs, producers and
critics, each recalling intimate stories of the Billie they knew. What
emerges is a portrait of a complex, contradictory, enthralling woman, a
woman who -- contrary to myth -- knew what she wanted and what really
mattered to her. Julia Blackburn has pieced together an oral history of
this jazz great, creating a unique and fascinating view of an
astonishing woman.