Billie Holiday was an influential Jazz and Blues singer active from the early 1920s to her death in 1959. She was known for her unique phrasing and her capacity to emote melancholy. Her life was a tragedy ending in destitution, her voice ravaged by the effects of drugs and alcohol. She was one of the first black singers to accompany a white band and her song God Bless the child is seminal work and now a Jazz Standard. She sang at Cafe Society(the first interracial club),New York during the 1940s at the height of her career.
As 2015 was the centennial birth year of Billie Holiday, I branded a hypothetical retrospective concert held at her old haunt, Cafe Society.
The concert was to focus on her love songs. I wanted the concert to celebrate her music and the influence she had on jazz music. Billie holiday was known to wear gardenias for every show she performed. The form of a flower rendered itself well to a theme of love.
In three second units the syllables are stacked one above the other unless the same syllable is carried forward to the next second in which case they change colour, are joint and do not stack.
The next representation is of the first two minutes of her rendition of Blue Moon.
