Table of contentsIntroductionThe influences of Billie Holiday and her connection with jazzThe impact of Billie Holiday's childhood on her life choicesMy manConclusionBibliographyIntroductionBillie Holiday born April 7 1915 was an extremely influential musician on the jazz scene during her lifetime. career that spanned over 30 decades starting in 1929. Billie Holiday was considered a pioneer of her era, not only for her singing style, but also for her protest song "Strange Fruits" during the era of Jim Crow. In the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday enjoyed mainstream success on labels such as Brunswick, Columbia and Decca Records and is known for songs like God Bless the Child, T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do, My Man and Strange Fruits. My essay will demonstrate how Billie Holiday's childhood and early childhood experiences shaped the way she performed inconsequential love songs while evoking complex emotions during her performances and recordings. I will focus on the social context of Billie Holiday's career and how her turbulent childhood, abusive relationships, the Great Depression, the Great Migration, African American poplar culture, and the racism she encountered in the Jim Crow era helped shape his artistry. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayBillie Holiday's influences and her connection to jazz Although Holiday did not attain any musical education, her voice was unique, masterful in quality, style and his work helped define Jazz. She shaped her jazz musical style by imitating the swing and rhythmic nuances of Louis Armstrong, as well as the personal expression and vocal power of Bessie Smith. Barney Josephson, founder of the Café Society where Holiday performed, recounts one of his comments: “I don't think I'm a singer. I feel like I'm playing the horn. What comes out is what I feel. I hate singing straight. I have to change my tone according to my own way of doing it. A great jazz instrumentalist appreciated Holiday because she sang with many distinctive characteristics, such as pitch fluctuations to create contrasting elements in her phrasing, something a musician would do with a physical instrument. “Gloomy Sunday” and “Solitude” illustrate this feature film very well. As a child, Holiday came into contact with her "first good Jazz" at a brothel where she was shopping. Instead of receiving a salary, Holiday asked to stay and listen to recordings of Armstrong and Smith on the Victrola where she spent many hours. West End Blues recorded by Armstrong in 1928 was the first time she heard someone sing without using words (Holiday 2018). This aroused her fascination, which had so much meaning for her; the meaning changed every time she heard it depending on how she felt if it was happy or sad to the point of tears. This connection to an art form that allows musicians to improvise musically and express themselves emotionally is a clear demonstration of how Holiday connects music to what she felt, consciously or unconsciously. By listening to Louis Armstrong, we can understand how he influenced Holiday's singing style. His 1939 recording of "Them There Eyes" is a good example of how Holiday formulates a song, much like Armstrong did in 1931. Holiday's performance of the songs also caught the attention of his audience; her phrasing kept them hooked on every lyric she sang. “Strange Fruits” is aexcellent example of this effect. Holiday was able to transform the so-called “Tin Pan Ally songs” and challenge them by connecting them to her life. Burnett James' essay "Billie Holiday and the Art of Communication" points out that Billie's musical style and emotional sensitivity were not the kind likely to thrive with the more rigid form of classic blues. She needed the kind of pieces on which she could work her will, ones that she could reshape for her own musical and emotional purposes, and from which she could create something personal rather than social or racial. His art always looked inward, toward his own heart, and uncovered their simple and profound truths. “If you find a melody that has something to do with you, you feel it, and when you sing it, other people feel it. , too,” Holiday once explained. Here we can see a clear and conscious connection between Holiday's musical abilities and her emotions, which captured the attention of her audience. The impact of Billie Holiday's childhood on her life choices Holiday, born to two young teenagers in Baltimore, was left with her at a very young age. cousin Ide after her father left and her mother left to look for work. Being left behind would prove to be one of many turbulent times in Holiday's life. While living in extreme poverty, Holiday was abused and unduly beaten regularly as a means of discipline by her mother's cousin, Ida. Not only did Holiday experience abuse at home; she was also raped at the age of ten while living with her mother who, at that time, was returning to Baltimore. Unfortunately, Holiday was sent to a convent for instigating her rapist. The cruel and unnecessary treatment suffered by the nuns; as she recalls the trauma in her book Lady Sings the Blues, of having her hands stained with blood after breaking down a door watched to get out, as well as the abuse of Ida, her rapist and the arrest at the age of 14 on the streets of Harlem because prostitution would indeed have an effect on Holiday's adult life. Coupled with the fact that Holiday's father was absent and her mother left her at a young age, Holiday would have experienced far too much trouble for a girl her age. I would like to address the effects of child abuse on Holiday's adulthood and make a case. , which is one of the reasons why Holiday sang the way she did. Research has shown that children's social context can have a great influence on their development and adult life. Professor Kevin Brown (World Health Organization) published a report which describes the types of abuse which are generally divided into five types: physical, sexual, emotional, psychological abuse and neglect. Holiday was the victim of four, if not all five, types of abuse during her childhood. The report further states that children abused by multiple people later suffer more problems than those abused by a single person, which is the case with Holiday. It goes on to argue that the negative impact of abuse and neglect on children should not be underestimated, particularly in relation to their long-term impact on physical and mental health and development. I highlighted in the report the negative consequences of child abuse, which I believe relate to Billie Holiday's adulthood: Emotional and behavioral problems Alcohol and drug abuse Increased risk of further victimization Antisocial acts and criminals There is also research that proves that children deprived of contact with their mothers can often experience difficulties later due to attachment bondsmediocre (Bowlby and Ainsworth, nd). I would also like to take into account the absence of Billie Holiday's father, Clarence Holiday. Parents shape how we see and organize meaning in other human interactions. Thus, a woman's early relationship with her father, who is usually the first male object of her love, shapes her conscious and unconscious perceptions of what she can expect and what is acceptable in a romantic partner. The party repertoire was very often composed of love songs, which reflected the relationships she had encountered such as "Don't Explain" and "Billie's Blues". To support my point, I would like to consider Holiday's marriages and relate them to the context in which her career developed. Holiday's marriages would prove abusive and contribute to the downward spiral into drug addiction. In 1941, Holiday met and married James Monroe, a drug dealer and pimp (Horsley 2019). When Monroe was convicted of drug trafficking, Holiday met Joe Guy, a musician who also supplied her with drugs. After her mother's death, Holiday began drinking and using drugs more frequently. Haunted by a deep fear of loneliness, she became abnormally dependent on her male lovers. In 1947, Holiday and Joe Guy were arrested and charged with receiving and concealing a narcotic; Holiday, was sentenced to prison. John Levy, Holiday's lover and manager, would then exploit her in turn (Horsley 2019). Her relationship with Louis McKay starting in 1950 gave her a sense of security and the ability to reduce her drug use for a time. But years of drinking, smoking and drug use took a toll on Holiday's voice and health. In 1956, she was arrested again for drug possession, this time with Louis McKay who eventually left when Billie ended up with another manipulative and abusive man, Earle Zaidins. The effects of Holiday's lifestyle began to become noticeable in her performances. Arranger Ray Ellis was disappointed by his voice, which bore the scars of his alcoholism and deliberate disregard for his health. Yet in songs like “For All We Know,” this shadow of self-destruction makes the phrasing softer and the glimpses of optimism all the more haunting. In 1959, the year of her death, in her final live appearances, she performed "Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" with style and grace, her life was in her voice. It's clear to see the impact of Holiday's abusive childhood. influenced his choices as an adult, given Dr. Kromberg's report and article. Perhaps then, Billie's traumatic childhood is a good place to try to understand her and her artistic talent. Constant abandonment by her mother and father, rape, injustice, treatment of nuns and prostitution may well have contributed to her loss of self-esteem. These feelings would also partly explain her abnormally dependent personality, her desire to attach herself to someone who would love and care for her, and then, once in a relationship, to do anything, including physical violence, to maintain it. Angela Davis writes: “Many of Holiday's songs are imbued with loneliness and sadness – and remains unmatched in her ability to musically recreate these emptinesses. Through the subtlety of her phrasing and her flawless sense of swing, she offers us a glimpse of the human emotion of despair. "My Man" first written in French ("Mon Homme") by Jacques Charles and then performed by Holiday is an example of Holiday's emotional interpretation of love songs. The original recording is faster and has a touchhumorous compared to Holiday's interpretation, which is slow and melancholy. Holiday's message is able to escape the ideological constraints of the lyrics. She became a legend in her time for her role as a tragic victim of male abuse, racism, drugs and alcohol, and she made this role her own for the narrative ballads she chose in the later years of his career, such as "Ain't If I Do It, It's Nobody's Business." Her earlier repertoire consisted of laments of a woman unlucky in love, such as "Lover Man" and "My Man". My man "I don't know why I should, he ain't right, he beats me too Oh my man, I love him so much, He'll never know. My whole life is despair, But I 'in file.' To better understand the context in which Holiday's career developed, adopt the perspective of the Great Depression, the Great Migrations, racism and African-American popular culture, I would like to demonstrate the effects. that this had on Holiday's career Jazz was known in America before the Roaring Twenties, its roots were in the slaves who came to America Yet jazz was indeed maturing in New Orleans where Louis Armstrong was born and. grew up During the Great Migration in the early 1900s, Louis Armstrong left New Orleans with many African Americans to flee the South in search of a better life As Jim Crow laws captivated Africans. Americans in the South, in the North, life was less intense. Between 1910 and 1939, the first wave of African Americans from the South embarked on the "Great Migration", which began because of World War I, and resulted in industrialized urban areas, making way for Africans. Americans to fill jobs. The second important cause of the Great Migration was the desire of African Americans to escape Jim Crow, a racial caste system that enforced rigid anti-black laws. The Great Migration had brought about a massive demographic shift across America. New York and other major cities saw a 40% increase in the African American population. In Harlem, the African American population reached nearly 200,000 people by the 1920s. This would lead to a significant artistic movement known as the Harlem Renaissance, which would have a huge impact on the culture of the time. Louis Armstrong arrived in New York where the Harlem Renaissance had contributed to the growing popularity and respectability of jazz music (Schuller, 1986). This explosion of African Americans in Harlem was accompanied by the influences of music, poetry, dance, and fashion. Underground nightclubs, dance halls, and speakeasies became popular for African Americans to entertain and express themselves with whites who became curious about the culture. One of the exchanges in these nightclubs was between black and white musicians (Gregory 2007). White people came to jazz clubs to listen and learn. They reproduced these sounds in numbers to which large crowds of young white people danced throughout the city. White jazz groups paved the way for white audiences to begin to appreciate new forms of music and the black artists who produced them. By the 1930s, some African-American conductors worked in major ballrooms. The Swing era would also see the first high-profile integrated bands, including Artie Shaw with Billie Holiday. White musicians got the better end of the deal, but these interactions changed the sounds and sociology of American music. Just as the Great Depression began, Holiday moved to Harlem where life was hard for Holiday and her mother.In his autobiography, Holiday mentions that "a depression was nothing new to us, we had always had difficulties." Before the Great Depression, the unemployment rate for African Americans was around 50%. After the stock market crash of 1929, jobs disappeared or were filled by whites looking for work, making it more difficult for African Americans. Holiday and her mother worked in a Harlem brothel and were later arrested for prostitution (Holiday 2018). After serving time in a workhouse, Holiday was desperate for work and ended up auditioning at an underground speakeasy, unwittingly as a singer, where producer John Hammond would later spot her. Alongside the need to find employment during the depression and the influence of jazz which traveled with migration, we can see the effects this would have had on holiday career choice. Jazz music became a way for Holiday to support herself and her mother, but it would also become a way for her to express her troubled life. Embarking on his career while the Great Migration was in effect and the start of the Great Depression, as well as the mixing of blacks and whites in underground jazz clubs, would provide the perfect setting for Holiday's protest song " Strange Fruits. Before performing at Café Society (the first interracial nightclub), Holiday had just completed a tour with Artie Shaw, where she became the first black woman to tour with an all-white orchestra. This would prove difficult because of Jim Crow. Holiday left the band because he was asked to ride the freight elevator into a hotel where the band was having a concert. It was one of many segregation laws that Holiday would face during her tour. The context in which Holiday's career developed is also reflected in the racism she reportedly encountered during her life. Although not an activist, Holiday was still deeply concerned about the injustice suffered by African Americans. This is demonstrated in his performances of "Strange Fruit", which Holiday called it a "protest song" and radically transformed its status in American popular culture. Her performance in Strange Fruit firmly established her pivotal role that directly addressed issues of racial injustice. Lewis Allen, a political activist, approached Holiday at Café Society with his poem "Strange Fruits", Holiday mentions it in his book "I dug it up straight away, it seemed to spell out all the things that had killed Pop". Holiday's father had been exposed to mustard gas while serving in World War I. He became ill while touring Texas and was denied treatment at a local hospital. By the time he was able to receive care in the Jim Crow ward of the Veterans Affairs hospital, pneumonia had set in and he died shortly thereafter (holiday 2018). Holiday blamed her death on unjustified racism, which led her to further connect with the lyrics of "Strange Fruit", an anti-lynching song. Lynchings in which black people were hanged from trees and murdered with indescribable brutality, often in a carnival atmosphere, took place on a widespread basis in the South with the approval of local authorities after the Civil War and for many years afterward. . Lewis Allen heard how Holiday's father had died and was interested in her singing Strange Fruits saying "she would be the only person who could sing it" (Margolick 2000). Even though Holiday didn't go out of her way to protest racism, she came across this poem and immediately :. 2019].