A health librarian and music: Billie Holiday

My Dad was in the habit of playing music on records (those have made a comeback) or cassette tapes (those have not) around the house, and if it was not folk music, it was traditional jazz.   And one of the singers was Billie Holiday, so I have been listening to her for some years.   When I left home I took with me tapes of some of some things from his collection, including two of Billie Holiday, one from early in her career, with sparse jazz accompaniment, and one from much later, where her voice had become deeper, huskier and slower, with an orchestra.I knew something of her life, but not, as it turns out, much.A recent documentary, Billie: in search of Billie Holiday, compiled from taped interviews made in the 1970s onwards with people who knew her or had played with her, with some actual film footage of her singing, was shown recently and is as I write on the iPlayer catch up service (no use to you if you are not in the UK, I know).Her early life saw her effectively being involved in prostitution, it seemed, from a young age.   I knew she had experienced racism when touring with white musicians, in that she had had to use the goods lift (elevator) not the passenger one, but I had not realised she (of course) had not been able to stay in hotels with the band and had to sleep in a car or bus.   I had also not realised the discrimination she had to endure when playing in clubs, some of it, it seemed to me, because she was a woman, ...
Source: Browsing - Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: decolonisation jazz Source Type: blogs