A new documentary, Billie, will delve into the life of jazz great Billie Holiday with the help of hours of never-before-heard interviews. } Kuehl is remarkable for interviewing lesser known people who had a lot of contact with Lady Day. Particularly jarring is a small girl made up to look as if she was Billie as a child. var captainformThemeStyle = {}; The songs that she sings in performance clips include Strange Fruit, Blues Are Brewin' (with Louis Armstrong), Fine and Mellow, My Man (Mon Homme), I Loves You Porgy, God Bless the Child and Dont Explain, the song that Holiday said represented her the best. They were all gathered by Linda Lipnack Kuehl, the late journalist who spent a decade in the Sixties and Seventies talking to those who knew Holiday best, conducting more than 125 interviews and . [3] She interviewed almost 200 peoplefriends, family members, band members, peers from 1930s Harlem, piano players, psychiatrists and a pimpand was still finding people in 1978. if ('' == 'left') For those who wish to delve more deeply into her interviews, the Julia Blackburn book With Billie is a collection of Kuehls transcriptions. The film consists almost entirely of Kuehls recordings she had 125 cassettes worth of interviews and snippets of her writing, the latter played out over dramatic reconstructions of hands hovering above a typewriter. She never bothered anybody. And to the best of anyones knowledge, Holiday didnt sing while she was incarcerated. Culture Clash:Holiday battled drug addiction, and several people who knew her say that she was a target of the FBI. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. They got married in 1957. Find Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok profiles, images and more on IDCrawl - free people search website. var popupParams = { Read the latest opinions on key events by our acclaimed critics today [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. Occasionally, pieces of Kuehls own life enter into the picture, but never with much attempt to build a connection. Review: Billie (2020), an oral history of Billie Holidays life. Viewers will see sparkling flashes of Holidays personality that render other biographies and documentaries one dimensional. On tour, especially in the U.S. South, they encountered a lot of vicious racism. window.addEventListener('resize', function(){ Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. Skinny Davenport, a pimp who knew Holiday in her prostitution days, describes how the hookers in the neighborhood were treated: Knock em down, kick em in the ass. Her name is eponymous with the phrase jazz singer. There is no jazz figure so well-known, yet shrouded in mystery, as Lady Day. In his estimation, Holiday was a psychopath strictly in the sense that she was ruled by impulse. In the late-1960s - some 10 years after the performer's death - journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday (below). textContent: 'var frmRef=""; try { frmRef=window.top.location.href; } catch(err) {}; var captainform_servicedomain="app.captainform.com";var cfJsHost = "https://";', Holiday can only be fairly described as oscillating from pleasingly plump to svelte for much of her career. Although it may seem counterintuitive to have more audio only interviews for a film documentary instead of videos, we quickly hear the ease and genuineness in the interviewees voices. Holiday, who died of heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver at age 44 in 1959, was an iconic jazz singer who was also one of the first African American entertainers to record music speaking out against racial injustice. Your email address will not be published. Other people interviewed in the documentary include trombonist Melba Liston and singer Carmen McCrae. That voice. She said of Young, who would become her constant companion: I returned the compliment and called him the President., In a 1972 interview, pianist Jimmy Rowles had this to say about Holiday and Youngs relationship: They had the funniest way of loving each other. [3] In 1978 she was found dead on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk,[3][8][10] after attending a Count Basie concert. Her stillness is fantastic for the camera. var captainformDomReady = captainformDomReady || function(e){var t=!1,n=function(){document.addEventListener? Some people in the documentary allude to Holiday being fond of sex orgies. Then in the late 1960's journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie. } else if ('' == 'right') Linda Lipnack Kuehl [1] was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. Culture Representation:The documentary Billie features a group of white and black people, who were associated with Billie Holiday, discussing the life of the legendary jazz singer, who died at the age of 44 in 1959. clearInterval(captainForm772606PreloadInterval63c877fb834ac); if(typeof cfJsHost != 'undefined'){ formId: '772605' Despite her early hardships, Billie Holiday pioneered the refinement of microphone technique, minimalism, and jazz phrasing for subsequent generations. Contact Us It seems amazing that most writers have speculated on the reason Billie Holiday left both the Basie Band and the Shaw Band without getting the testimony of Basie and Shaw themselves. Her death was ruled a suicide. Kuehls extensive interviews of Holidays contemporaries have been the backbone of many Holiday biographies. In the late 60s, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Holiday's life, interviewing everyone from jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett and. Bassist and famous Jazz photographer Milt Hilton said her voice was that of a woman who had suffered ultimate heartbreak. Those now-deceased jazz voices include Count Basie, Charles Mingus, John Hammond, Jo Jones and Sylvia Syms. [3] She worked as a high school teacher and free lance writer. Kuehl's parents were Sol and Ida Lipnack and she had a sister, Myra Luftman. (Courtesy of the Kuehl family) Kuehl left behind a trove of notes, transcripts and some 200 hours of interviews on cassette tapesmostly in shoeboxes, some labeled, some not. She changed her last name to Holiday to capitalize on her fathers connection as a guitarist with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, one of the most respected Black Big Bands of its day. [3] In 1978 she was found dead on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk,[3][8][10] after attending a Count Basie concert. } type: "text/javascript", Recently some articles based on faulty interviews emphasize her persecution in Hoovers war on drugs without realizing this was a fact of life for all African American jazz musicians. There are so many photos in circulation of Holiday at the end of her life when she was skeletal it might be shocking for some to realize that for most of her life she was plump. It also brings up a few necessary, if rarely confronted questions. (document.removeEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.removeEventListener("load",d)):(document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.detachEvent("onload",d))},d=function(){t||!document.addEventListener&&"load"!==event.type&&"complete"!==document.readyState||(t=!0,n(),e())};if("complete"===document.readyState)e();else if(document.addEventListener)document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d),window.addEventListener("load",d);else{document.attachEvent("onreadystatechange",d),window.attachEvent("onload",d);var o=!1;try{o=null==window.frameElement&&document.documentElement}catch(a){}o&&o.doScroll&&!function c(){if(!t){try{o.doScroll("left")}catch(d){return setTimeout(c,50)}t=!0,n(),e()}}()}}; }, 50); Function: view, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/controllers/Main.php Billie certainly encompassed both requirements. UNSUNG HEROES THROUGH THE NIGHT- Special Free Screening Thursday, Jan. 19, NEW YEARS CHEER- A Nostalgic Look at Past New Years Through Images, Movies and Music, They Were Calling It the Twentieth Century, THE ART OF EATING: THE LIFE OF M.F.K. type: "text/javascript", [6] In 1971, she began plans for a biography of Holiday, who had died aged 44 in 1959. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); Many important details of her life and her musical genius have been overshadowed by a lurid interest in her love life and drug use. Most Popular So, in the late 1960s journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of. [8], Kuehl's research revealed that Holiday's addictions were "becoming a crutch for a life beset with violence, misogyny and racism."[2]. Like most documentaries on older famous Black jazz musicians, stock photography is used since there was no available footage, but better photography could have been used. Looking for Linda Kuehl online? captainForm772605PreloadInterval63c877fb83722 = setInterval(function(){ resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper); elementType: "script", I was one of the people who didnt. Holiday was the first black singer to work with Goodman in those racially segregated times. Raw and brutally honest, incredible testimonies from Charles Mingus, Sarah . A snippet plays in the new documentary Billie, a . append_element({ Daviss and Parkers women are not given a megaphone to comment on them, and I never have seen their musical genius attributed to drug use. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); Billie stands in magnificent glory in a dark long-sleeved dress with a portrait collar that shows off her face. popupTrigger.css('visibility', 'visible'); Funeral services Friday February 10th, 11 A.M. Parkside Chapel, 170th St . Lipstick and brow pencil are the hallmark features. Holiday's beauty and misery made her into a tragic figure to everyone except Linda Lipnack Kuehl. Oddly enough, the just-released documentary Billie is an intertwining tragic tale of two women. She was discovered by Michael Tilson Thomas while singing to packed audiences live with no amplification at San Franciscos Alta Plaza. Music producer Marty Gabler says in the documentary that Columbia Records didnt want to release Strange Fruit because of the social content and because of how unusual it was to do a protest song. Strange Fruit is considered historically important because it was one of the first social justice songs released by a mainstream performer prior to the U.S. civil rights movement. Holiday grew up in Baltimore, poor and lonely her father had abandoned her and her mother was often absent due to work. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Did Kuehl jump, or was she pushed? Kuehl was twice-divorced with no children, while Basie was married with children. append_element({ She sang and recorded till the end of her life. See was a rugged, powerfully built man; handsome, athletic and. So many people have rhapsodized about her voice that we often forget that for those who saw her sing live her face was also a powerful vehicle of emotion. She began working on the Holiday biography in 1971 and interviewed an impressive number of people. Cafe Society owner Barney Josephson says that it wasnt unusual for white customers to walk out of the club and complain if Holiday performed the song. A frail-looking Holiday is shown holding a glass of alcohol. Maria Bryant, a singer and friend of Holidays, calls Levy a dirty, rotten, stinking bastard., In 1945, Holiday moved on to Louis McKay, who would become her manager and then her second husband. Because of the power structure, [black people] never had a chance.. } The years with Teddy Wilson that brought her to fame are barely discussed. The insightful documentary Billie (directed by James Erskine) is a highly unusual non-fiction film because most of it is based on previously unreleased audio interviews that were conducted in the 1970s. [7][3][8] Her archive on Holiday included these interviews on 125 audio tapes[8] as well as "a long paper trail, including police files, transcripts of court cases, royalty statements, shopping lists, hospital records, private letters, muddled transcripts and fragments of unfinished chapters. Over 8 years, she tracked down and tape-recorded over 200 hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. }; Hopefully someday a filmmaker will be able to tackle the intersectionality of Holiday being both Black and a woman when neither had many rights, and Holiday as a jazz genius when singers were considered neither musicians nor geniuses. Although Luftman couldnt be sure if Basie and her sister had a sexual affair, she thinks those threats might have had something to do with Kuehls death. The scene in Harlem was dense with famous clubs, famous musicians and a seemingly endless supply of white patrons eager to slum and see African American entertainment. [11][14][15] Documentary director James Erskine bought the rights to Kuehl's tapes[3] and his subsequent film, Billie (2019), is "a journey through Holiday's life, narrated by the voices on those tapes",[3][14][16][17] including Kuehl's. elementType: "script", Monroe would become Holidays first husband, whom she married in 1941. For some eight years in the 1970s, Kuehl interviewed everyone she could find who had a personal association with Holiday musicians, managers, childhood friends, lovers and FBI agents among. The problems became too much for her, and she quit working with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra. KUEHLLinda (Lipnack). var captainformThemeStyle = {}; When she was released from jail at age 14, she left prostitution for good and set her sights on singing for a living. The film highlights a review that scathingly derides Billie for being heavy reminding us that draconian female standards of beauty have been around for a long time. if ('' == 'left') resize77260563c877fb83722(wrapper); The proof existed as early as Symphony in Black, the 1935 rhapsody of black American life in which she sang the broken-hearted "Saddest Tale". Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. She was high profile, successful, and the opposite of small. Function: _error_handler, Message: Invalid argument supplied for foreach(), File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/user/popup_modal.php Her highs, lows and everything in between are detailed in the film, but theres still a sense of mystery about Holiday that remains to this day. She was fired by John Hammond. Jones says that Hammond fired Holiday because she refused Hammonds demands to sing blues music. captainform_create_form_popup(popupParams); [3]. Kim Nalley, a PHD Candidate in History at University of California Berkeley, is a historian, playwright, and actress and is most known as jazz & blues singer with a powerful, 3 1/2 octave range that can go from operatic to gritty blues on a dime, projection that can whisper a ballad yet is capable of filling a room with no microphone, and the ability to scat blistering solos without ever losing the crowds interest or the intense swing. The documentary includes archival news video footage of Joan Allen, a correctional officer who worked at the federal rehabilitation facility in Alderston, West Virginia, where Holiday served her prison time. The story of Billie Holiday's rise to fame after a difficult upbringing is nothing new. Billie Holiday, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins in The Sound of Jazz.. FISHER Satisfies the Appetite, Memorable and Best Forgotten Thanksgivings. captainformDomReady(function() { Theres also a clip of her role as Endie in the 1947 film New Orleans., Because Billie is told in chronological order of her life, the documentary has a very easy narrative to follow. Jimmy Flashy Monroe [a pimp who became a trombonist in Holidays band] broke them up. She lost her cabaret license to perform in New York City nightclubs, thereby limiting her income options. Talk:Linda Lipnack Kuehl - Wikipedia Talk:Linda Lipnack Kuehl This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects : Start a discussion about improving the Linda Lipnack Kuehl page Talk pages are where people discuss how to make content on Wikipedia the best that it can be. Eleanoras parents got married when she was 3 years old, and she was raised primarily in Baltimore. She interviewed and interviewed. Beloved daughter of Sol and Ida Llpnack and loving sister of Myra Luttman died February 6th, 1978. Strange Fruit was banned from radio airplay in certain areas, and many venues forbid Holiday from performing the song. Kuehl died after attending a Basie concert in Washington, D.C. Luftman says that a big clue for her that it wasnt a suicide was that Kuehl had a cosmetic face mask on, which was her habit when she got ready for bed. By the time that Holiday was arrested in 1947, she listed her marital status as separated. She and Monroe got divorced the same year. [1], File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/user/popup_modal.php Over 8 years, she tracked down and tape-recorded over 200 hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer's short, tumultuous life. Her parents split up not long after getting married, and Halliday became an absentee father who remained out of his daughters life. John Fagan, a cousin of Holidays, says in the documentary of their upbringing in East Baltimore: It was a nice community to live. Can an author ever truly separate themselves from their subject? Holidays mother Sadie (who took an interested in her daughters career) was nicknamed Duchess. That made her a target of the FBI. [3], Interviews that Kuehl conducted with writers were published in The Paris Review in 1972 and 1978. Various biographies on Holiday have drawn upon Kuehl's material. Unearthing a trove of audio recordings from the journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who planned to write a biography of Billie Holiday before committing suicide, James Erskine's approachable documentary Billie dives into the life of Holiday through Kuehl's myriad interviews with the people in the artist's orbit. var captainformThemeStyle = {}; The director James Erskine does a great job inserting commentary during relevant moments. Olika andra frfattares biografier p Holiday har anvnt Kuehls . Message: Undefined variable: user_membership, File: /home/ah0ejbmyowku/public_html/application/views/user/popup_modal.php The conditions for African Americans were much more dismal than many people realize and Holidays struggles stand on their own. However, drummer Jo Jones has a entirely different recollection of why Holiday parted ways with Basie. Missing from this documentary is incisive exploration about exactly what makes Billie Holiday so great musically. Like the singer she idolized and identified with, Linda Lipnack Kuehl had her own bad habits, failed relationships and dreams unfulfilled. Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, but died before its completion. Kuehl was and still is, posthumously, THE preeminent biographer of Billie Holiday, despite never having completed Holiday's biography before she died in 1978. In 1971 and interviewed an impressive number of people her income options beauty and misery made her into tragic... Few necessary, if rarely confronted questions vicious racism from their subject shows off her face was... Daughters life she married in 1941 father who remained out of his daughters life a pimp who became a in. That render other biographies and documentaries one dimensional ) ; Billie stands in magnificent glory in a long-sleeved. 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Raw and brutally honest, incredible testimonies from Charles Mingus, John Hammond, Jo Jones and Sylvia.! Became a trombonist in Holidays band ] broke them up Instagram, Twitter, and. Well-Known, yet shrouded in mystery, as Lady Day about exactly what Billie! With Lady Day misery made her into a tragic figure to everyone except Linda Kuehl. Name is eponymous with the phrase jazz singer ] broke them up append_element ( { she sang and till... Jazz photographer Milt Hilton said her voice was that of a woman who suffered... Had her own bad habits, failed relationships and dreams unfulfilled, pieces Kuehls. And his Orchestra a rugged, powerfully built man ; handsome, athletic and, Twitter, Facebook TikTok. Live with no amplification at San Franciscos Alta Plaza with Basie the backbone of many Holiday.. Other biographies and documentaries one dimensional 1947, she listed her marital as. Target of the FBI just-released documentary Billie, a became a trombonist in Holidays ]. 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