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John Szwed is Professor of Music and Jazz Studies at Columbia University, and Director of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of a number of books, including Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World and So What: The Life of Miles Davis.
Szwed's book offers a fresh attempt to understand and explain the nature and scope of Holiday's achievement. * Times Literary Supplement * 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 * 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 *
