The Many Faces of Billie Holiday
The movie Lady Day: The Many Faces Of Billie Holiday paints an interesting, and thought provoking portrait of one of jazz and blues most charismatic, and influential artists. The incomparable talent of Billie Holiday, both truth and legend are immortalized in this one-hour documentary film. The film follows Holiday, also referred to as “Lady Day” or “Lady”, through the many triumphs and trials of her career, and does it’s very best to separate the facts from fiction. Her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues is used as a rough guide of how she desired her life story to be viewed by her public. Those who knew her, worked with her, and loved her paint a different picture than this popular, and mostly fictional autobiography.
Interview footage of her colleagues, fellow musicians, and friends such as Annie Ross, Buck Clayton, Mal Waldron, and Harry “Sweets” Edison look back on their years of friendship and experiences with the woman they affectionately call “Lady”. Their anecdotes, fond memories, and descriptive way of describing Holiday’s unique talent and style, show the Lady that they knew and loved. The film also makes interesting use of photographs and orignal recordings of Holiday, along with movie footage of different eras. With the use of these devices, we get a feel for what Holiday’s music meant for the audience it reached. The black and white footage from the thirties of groups of people merrily swing dancing, paired with a bumptious, and swingin’ number Billie Holiday performed with Count Basie called “Swing Me Count”, makes one wonder what it might have been like to actually be there. To wildly swing dance to the live vocals of Billie Holiday must have been an amazing experience, as this film demonstrates.
The most enduring and alluring part of the film is the live footage of Holiday performing, either in a band with one of her idols, Louis Armstrong, or in her first film role as a maid, or in her later televised performances in the fifties. It was not Lady’s vocal talent that made her what she was. It was her delivery, performance style, charisma, and impeccably beautiful dramatization of even the most banal little number that made an impression on audiences. The footage of her singing the song “Strange Fruit” is one of the most amazing and alarming things in the film. As the audience looking in, we feel every word she sings, with a bit of awe, tinged with the horrid reality of what the song is about.
“Swing: Pure Pleasure” is a movie directed by Ken Burns. Movie explains that in the yeas of the Great Depression Jazz came really close to becoming Americas’ popular music. This time I adopted the name Swing. For the millions of young fans this was the music of their generation.
By the 1930’s the movement had shifted yet again and began to incorporate larger bands in what came to be known as “swing.” Broadcast radio was also an important factor by this time, giving swing music a far-reaching national influence. The size of the bands had a standardizing ...
Give light and people will find the way, Said Ella Baker. She was a woman, who even in the darkest hour, gave light to people everywhere. Being a Civil Rights activist in the 1930’s, she was one of the leading figures in the Civil Rights Movement. She dedicated her life to fighting for freedom and equality, and she deserves to be recognized worldwide.
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were both prominent jazz singer-songwriters during the same time and masters in their own right, but their worlds could not have been further apart. In 1939, while they were both in the midst of experiencing mainstream success, Ella was touring with Ella and her Famous Orchestra and showcasing her perfect pitch and tone to the world while singing songs that would soon become standards to fellow singers and musicians. Billie was singing solo, comfortable with her limited range, and gaining the adoration of audiences nationwide who loved her soulful voice. Both of these historic singers made contributions to the art of jazz, with vocalists and instrumentalists still using elements of their style today. Ella
To commerate Black History Month, I have decided to do reasearch on an exceptionally talented musician Ella Fitzgerald. She was essentially the Aretha Franklin of the Jazz Age. She was an incredibly talented jazz singer who was considered the best by almost everyone. The reason she’s been chosen as today’s Black History Month is because she holds the distinction of being the first Grammy Award Winner who was both Black and female. Ella Fitzgerald had an everlasting impact on, not only how jazz music sounded, but also who performed it. When looking at a compulsive life as Ella’s, I was inspired by the huge impact she brought throught out music; especially jazz.
In the 1930’s a new era was taking place in jazz. The swing era, otherwise known as the big band era. One of the biggest and most influential leaders of this era was William Basie, otherwise known as The Count, or Count Basie. Basie was among many of the leaders in this era, known for his leadership skills as a band leader and a cunning pianist. Basie was known for having one of the best combo section, or rhythm section around. His rhythm section featured among the best such as Jo Jones, Walter Page, Freddie Green, and Buddy Rich, while Basie accompanied on piano. Basie and his orchestra still perform today even after Basie’s passing, reliving the glory days when such vocalists and crooners performed with him, such as Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.
In “Blame It On the Blues” the author Angela Davis, argues against critics, like Samuel Charters and Paul Oliver, who say that the Blues lacks social commentary or political protest, by saying that the Blues was a subtle protest against gender and racial inequality. Davis uses various songs from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith to prove this.
Schoettler, Carl. "Tinged with Sorrow but Sung with Love; Blues: `Strange Fruit,' the Mournful Dirge about Lynching, is Forever Linked with Billie Holiday. A New Book about the Singer from Baltimore Recalls the Moment She Introduced it." The Baltimore Sun Jun 13 2000: 1.F. ProQuest Central. 16 Nov. 2011
In the 1920s, it was the birth of Jazz and the Blues. More importantly, black musicians/artists were becoming recognized during this decade, more before than the 1910s, due to this new genre of music. Since these artists were becoming recognized, three songs really catches the eye of this decade and represents the overall historic event of the 1920s; “social changes and profound cultural conflicts.”
The music is vocal instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony and expression of emotion. The most famous music during the Renaissance is Jazz and some Rock and Roll instruments are very important during that time too it’s still important till this day. The three people I decide to tell you about are Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and the last person I really enjoyed learning about was Louis Armstrong.
Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire are two of many breakthrough dancers, actors, performers, of their time. They are considered to be a couple of the many pioneers of dance in Hollywood. While Astaire received most of the recognition for dance in this era, both Rodgers and Astaire contributed equally a great amount to dance and the dance world especially when they came together in partnership. The book, Fred & Ginger -The Astaire Rodgers Partnership, written by Hannah Hyam, provides background information on both Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers leading up to their iconic partnership that would forever influence partner dance. This book also describes each film the pare appeared on screen together as well as their individual successes and the mark they left on dance. Author Hannah Hyam is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader focusing on academic and educational views of texts. Her book Fred & Ginger was her
The Jazz Singer, released in 1927, is a black and white film that centers on a young man who wishes to conquer his dreams in becoming a professional jazz singer. This film, directed by Alan Crosland, demonstrates new developments from the decade of the 1920’s. During the decade, many new advances; such as the introduction of musicals and other technological advancements, were created. The Jazz Singer utilized these new advances of the decade and incorporated them into each scene. This is evident due to the elements of being the first talkie film, the introduction of the new musical genre and the introduction of the Hollywood stars system. By utilizing the new advances of the decade, Crosland’s film, changed the way cinema would be seen forever.
In the book West Side Story as Cinema: The Making and Impact of an American Masterpiece by Ernesto R. Acevedo-Munoz, the author makes an evaluative judgement on the musical West Side Story and details the history of the extensive production and the making of the film and also analyzes the cultural controversy and impact of the film on society. Through the use of primary sources and thoroughly researched claims, the author convincingly demonstrates how the production, presentation, and release redefined the conventions of the classical hollywood musical, and the role of cinema in culture as a way of observing and rehearsing social issues.
After listening to the two versions of “Strange Fruit”, I did hear a clear pulse from both versions. The Holiday’s version rhythm is driven by piano and saxophone. The saxophone tends to be the instrument that creates momentum in the song. When the saxophone sound is gone, Holiday sings softer (but still meaningful, and solemnly) whereas when there is the saxophone sound, Holiday raises her voice which make it sounds powerful. On the other hand, Wilson’s version is driven by drum and saxophone which sounds happier than sad or serious. There is not significant momentum in this version, since the instruments remain same throughout the song. However, there is a movement created by Wilson. She raises and lows her voice in some sentences, which
Billie Holiday was an African-American jazz singer and songwriter.Billie Holiday was the biological child of Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. Sadie was thirteen when she had Billie. At the same time, Clarence was an irresponsible father who did not care about his daughter's Billie. From Billie's early life, she grew up in a broken family. In other word, she had no father to support throughout her childhood and her mother who was struggling financially as a teen mom that often neglect the time to take care of Billie. Therefore, Billie's childhood was missing love from both parents. Aside from that, Billie traveled from place to place along with her mother in order to survive. For example, Billie's mother worked as a server on the passenger railroad. Holiday was take care by her half-sister aunt named Martha Miller. Holiday was frequently running away from school. As a result of that, she was sent to the House of the Good Shepherd for nine months starting from March 19, 1925.Later on, she was released on October 3, 1925 to her mother who had opened a restaurant called East Side Grill. As a young girl, she did not receive much of formal school and Holiday was forced to drop out of school at the age of eleventh. Holiday's mom discovered that her neighbor named Wilbur Rich was raping her daughter's Billie. Once again, Billie was placed to the House of the Good Shepeard in protective custody as a state witness in the rape case. She was then released in 1927 and worked as an errand in a brothel. One year later, Billie's mother moved on New York City to find a better job as a prostitute in Harlem. On 1929, Billie also moved to Harlem to become a prostitute. Billie was fourteen when she was prostitute for $5 per client. Unfortunately, the...