Now Hear This: Billie Holiday

First I'd like to express my sincere condolences to the friends and family of Lauren Lecomte. I'm sorry for your loss.

On that sad note, the link for the new article is below. It is dedicated my Grandfather and this column more than any other means a lot to me. So here it is.

Now Hear This Billie Holiday

For those who can't open up the link here is the article.


Now Hear This: Billie Holiday

I dedicate this column to my Grandpa Ray, who died this last week. He introduced this artist to me through old CDs and I have been in love ever since.

Billie Holiday was and still is the “Queen of Song.” She was who Diana Ross portrayed in “Lady Sings the Blues.” Holiday’s past was turbulent at best. Her mother was 13 when she got pregnant with Billie and was thrown out of her house. Holiday was also placed under arrest while she lay dying in the hospital.

Despite Holiday’s private life, her voice was a force to be reckoned with. There was a depth and raw emotion in her voice that can’t be redone. Her music has been in many movies, most recently in “The Notebook.”

“I’ll Be Seeing You” was Allie and Noah’s song. This song means a lot to me; it was the last thing I said to my Grandpa before he died. The song is beautiful in its own right as a love song.

This was the song that first got me into Billie Holiday. My Grandpa and I were listening to jazz, and her CD “Billie Holiday for Lovers” cued on the CD player. I was enthralled. There was such beauty in her voice, and I could really feel the music. The drama and the emotions from the song drew me in.

“I’ll Be Seeing You” isn’t the only one of her songs that I love. Another of my favorites is “Can’t Take That Away From Me,” which has been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra to George Liberace. It’s a fun, jazzy song that makes me want kick up my heels and dance the foxtrot, even though I butcher the foxtrot like no other.

The jazz in the background is just as beautiful as Billie Holiday’s voice. There is a way the two blend that make a triple shot latte with Irish Cream seem ugly in comparison. The sax wailing in the background mixing with the gravelly voice of Holiday creates music you can almost see. It creates the yearning that is the calling card of jazz.

Jazz is an acquired taste—some people like it, some love it, and some hate it. It has a melancholy beauty. Despite the yearning, there is a great love in the music. Jazz isn’t all sadness and blues, it’s also happy and full of love.

Billie Holiday sings with such emotion that there is no denying that she is anything but genuine when she sings, as I would to my Grandpa Ray, “I’ll be seeing you in the morning sun/ and when the night is new I’ll be looking at the moon/ but I’ll be seeing you.”