5/27/2023 0 Comments Billie Holiday by John SzwedTo them the content and even the style of Holiday’s book seemed misguided, and they saw the financial motivation for it as a personal affront. Most of the writers were closet high modernists who wanted no mention of drugs, whorehouses, or lynching brought into discussions of the music. Its stars could still occasionally be found in the news, but it was now being guarded by a new breed of critics who were promoting jazz as America’s only true art form. It was on its way to becoming a minority music in every sense of the word. The book was widely reviewed, but often condemned for just those qualities.īy 1956 jazz had moved from being the popular music of 1940s America to a more rarefied place in the public’s view. It was written in a direct and often streetwise style, and its apparent openness and honesty was shocking to many. When Billie Holiday’s Lady Sings the Blues was published in 1956, it received a surprising amount of attention for a jazz singer’s autobiography.
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