jazzrelatedstuff:

Billie Holiday and Lester Young.

frankie-machine:

It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. | Frank Sinatra

Billie Holiday at the d’Orly airport, Paris, photographed by Jean-Pierre Leloir, 1958.

fuckyeahbillieholiday:

Billie Holiday photographed by Maya Millett in 1958 (courtesy Ebony Magazine)

steamboatbilljr:

“…the lascivious gardenia, worn like a large, white, beautiful ear, the heavy laugh, marvelous teeth, and the splendid archaic head, dragged up from the Aegean.” — Elizabeth Hardwick

Billie Holiday, 1958.

klovers:

A Word From The Wise: 

• “If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling. Not two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music, or it isn’t music.” - Billie Holiday

• “When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulders and I wouldn’t notice.” - Sarah Vaughan

• “The only time that I am really truly happy, when I feel my best, is when I’m on stage.” - Etta James

• “Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was apart of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.” - Nina Simone

• “Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I’m using to the highest degree possible, the gift God gave me to use. I’m happy with that.” - Aretha Franklin 

• “I am always aware that there’s an audience out there, and as a performer, I have to make a warm connection. People want to see as song as well as hear it.” - Nancy Wilson

• “I’ve been happily married to my profession for years.” - Shirley Bassey

• “I do not have an act, I just do Eartha Kitt. I want to be whoever Eartha Kitt is until the gods take me wherever they take me.” - Eartha Kitt

bellecs:

Billie Holiday, 1954

deforest:

Billie Holiday performing on Valentine’s Day 1954, photographed by Harry Hammond.