Read If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday

If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday

Farah Jasmine Griffin

4.9/5 (28705 ratings)

Description:Singer, composer, actress, lover, wife, writer, pleasure seeker, drug addict, icon, commodity, myth and mystery: Billie Holiday is still one of the most famous jazz vocalists of all time. But Holiday's image -- the gifted torch singer with insatiable appetites for food, sex, alcohol and drugs -- is not the full story. Farah Jasmine Griffin's enchanting investigation of Holiday, her world and how she is remembered, at last fully liberates Lady Day from the tragic songstress myth. Griffin argues that the stereotype of a black woman who can always take center stage to command an audience because of her incredible ability to feel, but not to think, continues to hide the real Holiday from public view. Instead of a mindless "natural" with incredible talent but no discipline, Griffin's Holiday is a jazz virtuoso whose passion and technique made every song she sang forever hers. Instead of being helpless against the racism, sexism and poverty that dominated her life, Holiday is an artist, willing to pay a tremendous price to change the sound of jazz forever. And far from being a victim of overwhelming obstacles, Lady Day is an independent spirit whose greatest legacy is that all hurdles can be overcome, whatever the odds.Holiday's voice has permeated American music from Frank Sinatra to Macy Gray. But, until now, Holiday's influence has never been reconciled with her image. Farah Jasmine Griffin unravels the threads that make up the Holiday mystique and weaves together a new, true Lady Day that jazz fans will both love and respect.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday. To get started finding If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: —

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: The Free Press/Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Release: —

ISBN: 0684868083

Description: Singer, composer, actress, lover, wife, writer, pleasure seeker, drug addict, icon, commodity, myth and mystery: Billie Holiday is still one of the most famous jazz vocalists of all time. But Holiday's image -- the gifted torch singer with insatiable appetites for food, sex, alcohol and drugs -- is not the full story. Farah Jasmine Griffin's enchanting investigation of Holiday, her world and how she is remembered, at last fully liberates Lady Day from the tragic songstress myth. Griffin argues that the stereotype of a black woman who can always take center stage to command an audience because of her incredible ability to feel, but not to think, continues to hide the real Holiday from public view. Instead of a mindless "natural" with incredible talent but no discipline, Griffin's Holiday is a jazz virtuoso whose passion and technique made every song she sang forever hers. Instead of being helpless against the racism, sexism and poverty that dominated her life, Holiday is an artist, willing to pay a tremendous price to change the sound of jazz forever. And far from being a victim of overwhelming obstacles, Lady Day is an independent spirit whose greatest legacy is that all hurdles can be overcome, whatever the odds.Holiday's voice has permeated American music from Frank Sinatra to Macy Gray. But, until now, Holiday's influence has never been reconciled with her image. Farah Jasmine Griffin unravels the threads that make up the Holiday mystique and weaves together a new, true Lady Day that jazz fans will both love and respect.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday. To get started finding If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Special Offer | $0.00

Special Offer! | $0.00

If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday

If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday

More Books

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

Summary of Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature By Farah Jasmine Griffin

Summary of Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature By Farah Jasmine Griffin

Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II

Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II

"Who Set You Flowin'?": The African-American Migration Narrative

"Who Set You Flowin'?": The African-American Migration Narrative

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday by Farah Jasmine Griffin (2002-04-30)

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday by Farah Jasmine Griffin (2002-04-30)

Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Rebecca Primus of Royal Oak, Maryland, and Addie Brown of Hartford, Connecticut, 1854-1868

Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Rebecca Primus of Royal Oak, Maryland, and Addie Brown of Hartford, Connecticut, 1854-1868

A Stranger in the Village

A Stranger in the Village