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Rating: 
Summary: New historical gems, but --my! -- the over-analysis!
Review: If one skips the heavy musicological analysis, there's fascinating history here. Nicholson nails Billie's disputed birth dates and parents. He corrects misconceptions about her marriages. He captures her temperament (and her temper), and details the darkest and brightest sides of this legend from Baltimore, and her awkward relationship with her mother Sadie. Finally, he depicts better than most "Billiecologists" the day-in, day-out, sing-here, sing-there, hired-here, fired-there nature of this unsurpassed song phraser's checkered career. But as a fan of Nicholson's, I wish this worked match the excellent standard of his Ella Fitzgerald biography published in 1995. "Ella" was compelling, precisely because one did not have to wade through psuedo-doctoral discussions of musicology to fine the real, shy Ella -- her music, her style, her history, her art. Alas, this is not the case here. While I still recommend this book to every serious Holiday fan because of the historical gems Nicholson serves up, one cannot but fault the over-analysis. Somehow, I just can't picture Billie striding into a studio, cigarette in hand, slightly high, tumbler of brandy on the piano, saying to herself: "Let's see: I'm going to sing with often conspicuous ornamentation -- vibrato, lelisma, a slur, a mordant, an appoggiatura, plus [my] inimitable growl." Do we really need to know that "Now They Call It Swing" is structured A (8 bars), A (8 bars), B (8 bars) and A (8 bars plus 4 bars)? Or, "...She essentially reduces the A theme to two semi-tones, which are repeated a third down and back in the tonic key again...An eight-bar introduction leads in the 32-bar ternary AABA song, followed by a four bar modulation into the minor and a 16-bar transition of two 8-bar sections before Billie's 32-bar AABA vocal." And, "...the confusing modulation, forcing her to syncopate her entry, making 'I jumped' into I-jumped," creating a precedent she follows with the subsequent 'When-I' and the final 'I-jumped'; the 'I' and 'When' would properly be written as an anacrusis, or pick-up." Say what? Spare me, O Lord. There are geographical inaccuracies, too. As a resident of West Virginia, I was surprised to learn that, in this book at least, the Federal Reformatory for Women, where Billie served time, has been moved from Alderson, West Virginia to "Alderston, Virginia." (At least in some chapters. In other chapters, it's "Alderston, West Virginia." That's wrong, too.) Nonetheless, if you're a serious Billie fan, and already have a few good books in your collection, add this one. Skip over the musicology and enjoy the documented history of the 30s, 40s and 50s. (For my money, though, if you're just starting out, the best Billie book of all -- best history, best "feel," best summary -- is Leslie Gourse's "THE BILLIE HOLIDAY COMPANION: Seven Decades of Commentary." Which, last time I checked, was available through Amazon.com.
Rating: 
Summary: New historical gems, but my -- the over-analysis!
Review: If one skips the heavy musicological anlaysis, there's fascinating history here. Nicholson nails Billie's disputed birth dates and parents. He corrects misconceptions about her marriages. He captures her temperament (and her temper) and details the darkest and brightest sides of this legend from Baltimore -- and her awkward relationship with her mother Sadie. Finally, he depicts better than most "Billiecologists" the day-in, day-out, sing-here, sing-there, hired-here, fired-there nature of this unsurpassed song phraser's checkered career. But as a fan of Nicholson's, I wish this work matched the excellent standard of his Ella Fitzgerald biography published in 1995. "Ella" was compelling precisely because one did not wade through psuedo-doctoral discussions of musicology to find the real, shy Ella -- her music, her style, her history, her art. Alas, this is not the case here. While I still recommend this book to every serious Holiday fan because of the historical gems Nicholson serves up, one cannot but fault the over-analysis. Somehow, I can't picture Billie striding into a studio, cigarette in hand, slightly high, tumbler of brandy on the piano, saying to herself, "Let's see -- I'm going to sing with often conspicuous ornamentation -- vibrato, lelisma, a slur, a mordant, an appoggiatura, plus [my]inimitable growl." Do we really need to know that "Now They Call It Swing" is structured A (8 bars), A (8 bars), B (8 bars) and A (8 bars plus 4 bars)? Or, "She essentially reduces the A theme to two semi-tones, which are repeated a third down and back in the tonic key again . . . An eight bar introduction leads into the 32-bar ternary AABA song, followed by a four bar modulation into the minor and a 16-bar transition of two 8-bar sections before Billie's 32-bar AABA vocal." And, "...the confusing modulation, forcing her to syncopate her entry, making 'I jumped' into 'I-jumped' creating a precedent she follows with the subsequent 'When-I' and the final 'I-jumped'; the 'I' and 'When' would properly be written as an ancrusis, or pick-up." Say what? Spare me, O Lord. There are geographical inaccuracies, too. As a resident of West Virginia, I was surpised to learn that, in this book at least, the Federal Reformatory for Women, where Billie served time on a drug conviction, has been moved from Alderson, West Virginia to "Alderston, Virginia." (At least in some chapters. In other chapters, it's "Alderston, West Virginia." That's wrong, too.) Nonetheless, if you're a serious Billie fan and already have a few good books in your collection, add this one. Skip the musicology and enjoy the documented history of the 30s, 40s and 50s. (For my money, though, the best Billie book of all -- best history, best "feel," best summary -- is Leslie Gourse's 'THE BILLIE HOLIDAY COMPANION: Seven Decades of Commentary'. Last time I checked, it was available through Amazon.com
Rating:
Summary: New historical gems, but my -- the over-analysis!
Review: If one skips the heavy musicological anlaysis, there's fascinating history here. Nicholson nails Billie's disputed birth dates and parents. He corrects misconceptions about her marriages. He captures her temperament (and her temper) and details the darkest and brightest sides of this legend from Baltimore -- and her awkward relationship with her mother Sadie. Finally, he depicts better than most "Billiecologists" the day-in, day-out, sing-here, sing-there, hired-here, fired-there nature of this unsurpassed song phraser's checkered career. But as a fan of Nicholson's, I wish this work matched the excellent standard of his Ella Fitzgerald biography published in 1995. "Ella" was compelling precisely because one did not wade through psuedo-doctoral discussions of musicology to find the real, shy Ella -- her music, her style, her history, her art. Alas, this is not the case here. While I still recommend this book to every serious Holiday fan because of the historical gems Nicholson serves up, one cannot but fault the over-analysis. Somehow, I can't picture Billie striding into a studio, cigarette in hand, slightly high, tumbler of brandy on the piano, saying to herself, "Let's see -- I'm going to sing with often conspicuous ornamentation -- vibrato, lelisma, a slur, a mordant, an appoggiatura, plus [my]inimitable growl." Do we really need to know that "Now They Call It Swing" is structured A (8 bars), A (8 bars), B (8 bars) and A (8 bars plus 4 bars)? Or, "She essentially reduces the A theme to two semi-tones, which are repeated a third down and back in the tonic key again . . . An eight bar introduction leads into the 32-bar ternary AABA song, followed by a four bar modulation into the minor and a 16-bar transition of two 8-bar sections before Billie's 32-bar AABA vocal." And, "...the confusing modulation, forcing her to syncopate her entry, making 'I jumped' into 'I-jumped' creating a precedent she follows with the subsequent 'When-I' and the final 'I-jumped'; the 'I' and 'When' would properly be written as an ancrusis, or pick-up." Say what? Spare me, O Lord. There are geographical inaccuracies, too. As a resident of West Virginia, I was surpised to learn that, in this book at least, the Federal Reformatory for Women, where Billie served time on a drug conviction, has been moved from Alderson, West Virginia to "Alderston, Virginia." (At least in some chapters. In other chapters, it's "Alderston, West Virginia." That's wrong, too.) Nonetheless, if you're a serious Billie fan and already have a few good books in your collection, add this one. Skip the musicology and enjoy the documented history of the 30s, 40s and 50s. (For my money, though, the best Billie book of all -- best history, best "feel," best summary -- is Leslie Gourse's 'THE BILLIE HOLIDAY COMPANION: Seven Decades of Commentary'. Last time I checked, it was available through Amazon.com
Rating:
Summary: Billie's Blues
Review: Mr. Nicholson's book was, for the most part, a clear and enjoyable read. I respected his dedication to uncovering facts about Billie's birth, childhood, and family. I also enjoyed the careful attention he paid to her musical choices because too many people have thought of Holiday as a woman whose genius was entirely intuitive. Those people have neglected the fact that jazz was (is?) an aural art form, studied by listening just as Western scholars learn by reading. Thus, the analysis of her style and note selection did not bother me... when it got too tedis for my taste, I skipped it. I must applaud Nicholson for stepping on some toes. As a Holiday fanatic, I am used to books and films (including Holiday's autobiography) that leave only a "trace" (to borrow from French philosopher Derrida) of the "real Billie Holiday. i have come to understand, however, that this trace is, without Holiday's physical presence, all we have of her. Our understadning Holiday requires retelling, re-inventing the story--not merely looking for facts, but being conscios of how we arrange them. Nicholson takes on the Holiday mystique with vigor. Everything from her birth record, to her girlhood rape and addictions to drugs and bad men are attacked. Nicholson often uses Holiday's own words (whether ghost-written by William Difty or not) to de-mystify Lady Day. I appreciate Nicholson's thorough challenges to the legend not because they replace the mystique, but because they add to our "reconstruction" of Billie Holiday. I disagreed rather strongly with his claim that Holiday's artistry was, finally, less than that of Ella Fitzgerald, but I found his extended comparison of the two women useful for further listening. His remarks about Holiday's artistic rut, performing the same 10 songs repeatedly in live concerts during the 1950s, initially struck me as callous. However, I finally concluded that I appreciated this criticism. Nicholson risks sacrilege, but it's a worthy risk. If no one had mentioned that her repertoire became almost petrified, how could we then ask the question of why it became so? Was she under and specific pressures that limed her repertoire, or were their hints of this staleness early in her career? Nicholson's book, by engaging the written documents, musical recordings, and oral narratives of the "real" Billie Holidays, points the way to interesting questions in our interpretation of her art and her life. I highly recommend Nicholson's book. For fans of women jazz singers, Nina Simone's _I Put a Spell on You_ and Leslie Gourse biography of Sarah Vaughan, _Sassy_, are also indispensable.
Rating: 
Summary: risking sacrilege
Review: Mr. Nicholson's book was, for the most part, a clear and enjoyable read. I respected his dedication to uncovering facts about Billie's birth, childhood, and family. I also enjoyed the careful attention he paid to her musical choices because too many people have thought of Holiday as a woman whose genius was entirely intuitive. Those people have neglected the fact that jazz was (is?) an aural art form, studied by listening just as Western scholars learn by reading. Thus, the analysis of her style and note selection did not bother me... when it got too tedis for my taste, I skipped it. I must applaud Nicholson for stepping on some toes. As a Holiday fanatic, I am used to books and films (including Holiday's autobiography) that leave only a "trace" (to borrow from French philosopher Derrida) of the "real Billie Holiday. i have come to understand, however, that this trace is, without Holiday's physical presence, all we have of her. Our understadning Holiday requires retelling, re-inventing the story--not merely looking for facts, but being conscios of how we arrange them. Nicholson takes on the Holiday mystique with vigor. Everything from her birth record, to her girlhood rape and addictions to drugs and bad men are attacked. Nicholson often uses Holiday's own words (whether ghost-written by William Difty or not) to de-mystify Lady Day. I appreciate Nicholson's thorough challenges to the legend not because they replace the mystique, but because they add to our "reconstruction" of Billie Holiday. I disagreed rather strongly with his claim that Holiday's artistry was, finally, less than that of Ella Fitzgerald, but I found his extended comparison of the two women useful for further listening. His remarks about Holiday's artistic rut, performing the same 10 songs repeatedly in live concerts during the 1950s, initially struck me as callous. However, I finally concluded that I appreciated this criticism. Nicholson risks sacrilege, but it's a worthy risk. If no one had mentioned that her repertoire became almost petrified, how could we then ask the question of why it became so? Was she under and specific pressures that limed her repertoire, or were their hints of this staleness early in her career? Nicholson's book, by engaging the written documents, musical recordings, and oral narratives of the "real" Billie Holidays, points the way to interesting questions in our interpretation of her art and her life. I highly recommend Nicholson's book. For fans of women jazz singers, Nina Simone's _I Put a Spell on You_ and Leslie Gourse biography of Sarah Vaughan, _Sassy_, are also indispensable.
Rating:
Summary: Billie's Blues
Review: This book is much too wordy and in depth about her music rather than her life.
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