“Looking at Jazz: America’s Art Form” returns to the Kent campus tonight and will feature a documentary.

The film, Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Halliday, is about “one of the great jazz singers,” said Daniel Boomhower, head of the Hugh A. Glauser Music Library.

“(Halliday) had a pretty dramatic style,” he said. “She had drug and alcohol abuse issues and was also in abusive relationships. It’s kind of a theme throughout a lot of these films: the cost of the music – the personal cost of being a great musician.”

The after-movie discussion will be lead by Denise Seachrist, an associate professor of music with a specialty in American music.

“So far the series has attracted a good following among people not affiliated with the university,” Boomhower said, “and I think it’s been very successful (at) exposing the broader community to what goes on at several of Kent’s campuses.”

He hopes tonight’s film and discussion will be an opportunity to build momentum for the rest of the discussion series.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. in Carol A. Cartwright Hall.

Contact libraries and information reporter Andrew Schiller at [email protected].