*Includes pictures *Includes Holliday's quotes *Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents “Don’t threaten me with love; baby; let’s just go walking in the rain†– Billie Holiday A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures; but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ American Legends series; readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute; while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. If Billie Holiday wanted to become a jazz singer; she chose the best of all eras in which to attempt it. A wave of great jazz and jazz/pop crossover artists swept over the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s; generating a golden age for the genre. This wondrous jazz era was well represented by both black and white master artists; men; women; vocalists; and instrumentalists; and Billie Holiday has stood the test of time as well as any; despite struggling with an environment that easily could have doomed such aspirations. Emerging from such a powerful group of talented vocalists was not easy. The woman who has come to represent a model of great; instinctive jazz singing came from nowhere; had nothing; and virtually had no one who was truly helpful in her background. She was raw and untrained but went forward regardless; with limited and quirky vocal gifts; the likes of which had never been heard in the highest circles of jazz. This especially was true among women; where perfection of phrasing and a smooth style of delivery stood as the unspoken guidelines of vocal success. No female counterpart of Louis Armstrong; one of Holiday’s idols; was ever going to survive in the female jazz world for long; except perhaps as a novelty. It was not only hard-headed persistence that made Holiday “a preeminent female jazz vocalist†but a self-education; with the core belief that to sound like another singer was to not make music at all. Singing only from her deepest instinct and accepting no one as a literal model; she magically “changed the paradigm for jazz singing†by refusing to do anything the way it was expected to be done; or by swinging in any way that did not come authentically from her own artistry. Holiday “rewrote the rules†of jazz singing by using her voice not to imitate other singers; but by taking on the style of movement and sound common to jazz instruments. On top of that; she took the moderately employed practice of singing off the beat and brought it to the rhythmic forefront of virtually everything she sang. Holiday could “subtly twist [the] rhythm†in a way never before heard; “in the manner of an instrumental soloist.†Grateful to Louis Armstrong as a model; any song she took up was transformed rhythmically; tonally; and emotionally; with her “light and untrained†instrument; which despite its clarity could wield “a wounded poignancy†. Listeners were astonished to hear the human female voice so hauntingly able to reflect the sounds and styles of familiar instruments. Holiday’s comment on the phenomenon suggested that although she used instruments as models of vocal production and movement; she would not directly imitate anything – “I don’t think I’m singing. I feel like I’m playing a horn…like Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire…[but] I can’t even copy me†. American Legends: The Life of Billie Holiday looks at the life and career of one of America’s most famous singers. Along with pictures of important people; places; and events; you will learn about Billie Holiday like never before; in no time at all.
#285492 in Books 2014-09-22Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .74 x 6.00l; .97 #File Name: 1501081373328 pages
Review
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Cooper has done an excellent job with his researchBy CustomerThis book gives you documented evidence about what happened with Adolph Hitler. You will NEVER get this kind of documented evidence from main stream textbooks. Mr. Cooper has done an excellent job with his research.8 of 11 people found the following review helpful. A home run from Cooper !By Ellis BaxterAn outstanding bit of research which I have come to expect from Harry Cooper ... the style is not literature but hard cold research. Just the facts Jack ! I love this frank approach to study ... I can not recommend this book high enough .. first rate research from Cooper who not only digs into the paper work but damn if the guy does not go to the locations ... Buy one Cooper Book and you will buy more; yes; he is that good !11 of 16 people found the following review helpful. Many Puzzles Explained and More Questions RaisedBy George-Peter PaxinosMichael IVINHEIM's/Harry COOPER of SHARKHUNTERS.com's book is a marvel of revelation about what most of us have never learned of world history of the 20th Century; and explains; between the lines; the inside nature of world political process in our present 21st Century; a process of morally-unjustifiable wars-for-profit seemingly instigated by giant trans-national corporations; the deaths and displacement of millions of people and their exodus into countries economically unprepared to receive them and ethnically surprised at their unwillingness to integrate themselves into their receiving societies; the fragmentation of a world into an incoherently shattered jigsaw-puzzle of competing factions facilitating armed conflicts worldwide; and only really enhancing wealth accrual by the few; for the few; of the few; as the majority of the world sinks into individual poverty and becomes ruled over by an ever-tightening police-state noose upon us all. Taking us back in history; as IVINHEIM does; just showing us some of the behind-the-scenes machinations of the major powers during 20th Century;; helps us better understand our world today. On Page 80; he suddenly throws us a spin-ball with the story of VIKING colonisation in South America ; of lost underground facilities still protected by unknown structural materials that defied even world-leading German mining; boring and blasting technologies of the mid-20th Century; and the question arises : what happened to the Vikings; did they return to their homeland; and if so; why ? -- or did they go off somewhere with the unknown higher-tech builders of these protective facilities; leaving their valuables behind in safe places ? -- and why is this still-hidden knowledge under such a veil of secrecy; even today ? With these questions; we perhaps begin to get an inkling of why certain world elites are competing in their rush to uncover artifacts and higher technologies of the past; secrets perhaps needed for their very survival -- but not necessarily for ours. This book; taken together with Harry COOPER's/DON ANGEL ALCAZAR DE VELASCO's book; "Hitler in Argentina"; in which DON ANGEL quite off-the-cuff; mentions in passing some of the principal Third Reich post-War escapees to South America; begs the questions of; firstly; "Who Profits ?" and; secondly; whether or not wars; especially world-wars; are not perhaps tragic but orchestrated plays set up by world-elites for development of needed technologies that will benefit; in the first instance; only themselves ? If this sounds paranoid; never forget the dictum of the "Principia Discordia"; : "EVERY BOOK IS A MIRROR; WHEN A MONKEY LOOKS IN; NO PHILOSOPHER LOOKS OUT."Gar Vieles; was wir offiziell nicht wissen solltenMichael IVINHEIM und Redakteur Harry COOPER von SHARKHUNTERS bieten uns ein Wunderbares Beispiel an von dem; was die Welteliten uns vorbehalten möchten. Das Buch kam mir vorerst wie eine etwas trockenere Aufzählung zahlreicher geheimer deutscher Aktivitäten vor und während beider letzterer Weltkriegen vor; änderte sich jedoch schlagartig für ein paar Seiten ab Seite 80 mit der fast nebenläufigen Erzählung deutscher Entdeckungen mitten im 2.WK zu PARAGUAY; mit Resten einer verschollenen WIKINGERKULTUR; deren unterirdischer Stätten Zugangsschutz sogar deutschen Technologien jener Zeit; inklusive Bohr- und Sprengtechniken mit höchstbrisanten Sprengstoffen; sich gefeit zeigte (!) ; fazit : mit welchen noch höheren Technologien als den in den 40-er Jahrenden deutsch-Führenden wurden diese Anlagen gabaut; und; da die Wikinger nach vollen 290 Jahren Anwesenheit vor Ort scheinbar verschwanden; aber vermutlich nicht ganz vollständig heimgekehrt waren; denn das hätte eine Art Flucht bedeutet; wohin und/oder wie und mit wem sind sie in u.U. engerem Bündnis; freiwillig oder unfreiwillig; dieser Welt entflohen ? IVINHEIMS Buch; zusammengenommen mit dem SHARKHUNTERS Buch "HITLER IN ARGENTINA" von Harry COOPER; mit Kernbuch die Kriegsendenaufzeichnungen von DON ANGEL ALCAZAR DE VELASCO; einem spanischen Agenten der deutschen ABWEHR unter Admiral Wilhelm CANARIS; klärt uns auf; wie führende Nazis dem kollabierenden Reich enflohen seien. Erstaulichst; aber; sind DON ANGELS fast beiläufig angeführten Schlussbemerkungen zur Herkunft führender Reichsüberlebender; die quasi mit der Reichskasse und dazu noch sozusagen dem Silberbesteck höchster Technologien nachweislich getürmt waren und uns gesamtheitlich zwischen den Zeilen eine höchst behunruhigende wie auch ohne Zweifel begründete Fragestellung aufwerfen; ob eventuell das gesamte 3.Reichsgeschehen schlussendlich nicht eine massive Verarschung eines gesamten (deutschen) Volkes darstellt; das von einer (höheren ?) oder sonstigen (?) Weltelite eingespannt wurde; die Drecksarbeiten zu den benötigten höheren Technologieentwicklungen zu vollziehen; die irgendeine Weltelite irgendwann vermutlich benötigen würde; einer dem Tode geweihten Planeten zu entfliehen; die ergatterten Technologien aber alleine zugunsten der genannten Anführer des dazu zu führenden Weltenkriegselendes zu entwickeln ? -- Technologien; die uns normal-sterblichen auf keinen Fall je zu nutzen kommen würden. DasBuch - eigentlich beide zusammenhängenden Bücher ! -- sind meineserachtens ganz extrem zu empfehlen -- und mit dem soebengenannten zweiten Buch zusammengenommen; geben fast endlos nachzudenken auf.
