Billie Holiday

Date

1915–1959

Description

City of birth: Mvezo
Country of birth: United States
Field of activity: Culture — Music, Performance

More detail coming ...

Quotes

‘Among the attributes that give Holiday’s singing its veracity is its fragility, a quality present as early as 1935, when Holiday, at age 19, sang the mournful blues lament “Saddest Tale” in Symphony in Black, a film short centered on Duke Ellington. “My man’s gone / I feel so alone”, Holiday murmured, collapsed on the street. “He didn’t treat me fair / It’s more than I can bear”. … What Holiday and Sinatra shared as singers involved technique, for sure, but also transcended it. The innovation they both enacted was a profound one. They absorbed their material deeply with close attention to the lyrical content, and they communicated the meaning so naturally and emotively that they made popular singing feel like an expressive, rather than an interpretive, art. Internalizing the material and then singing almost as if they were whispering confidences, one on one to people listening alone in their rooms with radios or record players, Holiday and Sinatra made popular music something personal.’

Author

David Hajdu

Speaker

David Hajdu

Title of the publication

‘Who Loves You? America’s ongoing fascination with Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra’

Other contributors

n/a

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

The Nation

City of publication

New York City

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

United States of America

Publication date

10 September 2015

Location [pp. or web]

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/who-loves-you/

Original language

English

Genre

Magazine

Context

The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in America, covering progressive political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. David Hajdu, professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, is a music critic for The Nation.

‘ “I always loved Billie Holiday as a performer”, he said. “She's the quintessential artist in that whenever you listen to her sing, you feel her experiences. She draws you into her feelings, whether they are sad, happy or coy”.’

Author

Terence Blanchard

Speaker

Terence Blanchard

Title of the publication

'The Pop Life, A Hip-Hop Night'

Other contributors

Shilea Rule

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

New York Times

City of publication

New York City

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

United States of America

Publication date

27 April 1994

Location [pp. or web]

Section C, p.14

Other location

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/27/arts/the-pop-life-908223.html

Original language

English

Genre

Newspaper article

Context

In 1994, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard released the album ‘In my Solitude: The Billie Holiday Songbook’, with vocalist Jeanie Bryson.

‘But, uh — I don’t like any of my records, to be truthful with you. Because it’s always something that you should have done; or you should have waited here; or you should have held that note longer; or you should have phrased — well, you know how it is. So, you’re never really satisfied with your records. But the things that I like most — I think the things I’ve done with strings. Or the ones — the real blues ones.’

Author

Billie Holiday

Speaker

Billie Holiday

Title of the publication

‘Music US: Transcript of Interview with Billie Holiday’

Other contributors

Willis Conover, interviewer

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Voice of America

City of publication

Washington D.C.

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

United States of America

Publication date

Recorded: 15 February 1956; Broadcast: 20 March 1956

Location [pp. or web]

https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc770636/

Original language

English

Genre

Interview

Context

Voice of America was established in 1942 in Washington D.C. and continues to serve as the United States government institution for non-military, external broadcasting. It is the largest US international broadcaster. Funds are appropriated annually by Congress under the budget for embassies and consulates. Willis Conover (1920–1996) was a jazz producer and broadcaster for Voice of America for over forty years. He became well known internationally due to his hour-long program ‘Voice of America Jazz Hour’. At its height, the program was listened to by up to 30 million people, however, it was prohibited from broadcasting in the United States by the Smith -Mundt Act Despite this, the shortwave signal was receivable in America and the program had a sizable USA based audience. The quote is from the original transcript of Willis Conover’s interview with Billie Holiday for Music USA program #447-B Broadcast, 20 March 1956. This transcript is now part of the collection entitled: Music Library Conover Collection and was provided by UNT (University of Texas) Music Library to UNT Digital Library.