April 07, 2005

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELEANORA FAGAN

        On this date, April 7, 1915, the greatest female jazz vocalist who ever lived was born. The child of a 13 yr. old prostitute and a 15 yr. old guitarist, who quickly abandoned her, she left her own budding career as a teen aged hooker, took the name, 'Billie Holiday' and lived a brief 44 years, before succumbing to drugs and alcohol. Her unique style of singing slightly behind the beat, of finding unpredictable notes to sing, while maintaining the clarity of melodic line (try singing along with her, you'll quickly be lost), but finally, the intensity and genuineness of the emotion she conveyed, has never been equalled. Every lighthearted tin pan alley ditty she sang was transmuted into near Sophoclean tragedy, by the weight of her sadness and empathy for the human condition. Horsefeathers remembers seeing her at the Apollo Theater near the end of her life, her voice gravelly and gasping, and heartbreaking; he knew he was witness to genius. It was horrifyingly thrilling. Was it the actress, Jeanne Moreau who said that Billie could convey more emotion in 3 minutes than most actresses in 3 hours? The closest anyone has come, in our experience, was Janis Joplin, in a performance at Hunter College auditorium in New York, when the scary bone-chilling intensity of the performance made us think 'this woman is doomed': no one could express that intensity, even fueled by ample supplies of Southern Comfort, and expect to survive long.
        For us, Billie's most satisfying performances are the ones in which her doomed tragic awareness is tempered by the exuberant loving musical connection with saxophonist, 'Prez', Lester Young (who dubbed her, in return, 'Lady Day'). This was the most exquisite erotic musicianship ever set down in recordings. Listening now to A Sailboat In The Moonlight, or Says My Heart,("Oh you fool, that was love says my heart") encourages one to an almost utopian conviction that Love will prevail over the forces of darkness--and if it doesn't it will have a helluva good time before it succumbs. Happy birthday Eleanora!

        For anyone who might despair over the debased quality of a culture that grants celebrity to gangsta rappers and hip-hop 'artists', Billie Holiday's music is being celebrated non-stop for a week here.