"So much of what happened to her was enmeshed with the love of her life, which was music. By the time she recorded 'Lady Sings,' her life in music — shaped as it was by her life as a Black woman in America — had afforded her extraordinary opportunities at an incalculable price. Those experiences made their mark on her voice, but the sound of that voice tells us less about what she endured than about what she was able to do over time as a musical genius."