The soundtrack to the 2020 Billie Holiday documentary, Billie brings together a nice cross-section of the legendary singer's output from her early work in the 1930s to just before her death in the 1950s. The music correlates nicely with the director James Erskine's film, which works to illuminate Holiday's groundbreaking career, as well as her troubled personal life. Included on the soundtrack are a handful of what are largely considered Holiday's most important recordings. Chief among them is her landmark 1939 recording of "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest ballad against the lynching of black people that many believe helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement. Also featured are a handful of her other classic studio recordings, including 1939's "Fine and Mellow," 1950's "God Bless the Child" with the Gordon Jenkins vocal group, and her live 1956 performance of "Don't Explain" captured at Carnegie Hall. We also get her swinging 1949 take on "Now or Never" with Sy Oliver & His Orchestra and her shimmering 1959 rendition of "I'll Never Smile Again" with Ray Ellis & His Orchestra. Included alongside these original recordings are a handful of contemporary instrumentals performed in a period-appropriate swing jazz style by the Sonhouse Allstars for incidental inclusion in the documentary. As a souvenir of the film, Billie works quite well and certainly offers a compelling introduction to Holiday's work. ~ Matt Collar