[Jazz & Song] Holiday, Billie. (1915-1959)
Lady Sings the Blues - SIGNED
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.. 1956. Inscribed in blue ink across the first blank, "For Evelyn / Sincerely / Billie Holiday."Inscribed copies are uncommon. "Lady Sings the Blues" was a ghostwritten autobiography by William Dufty, based on previous interviews given by the singer. But, despite the authenticity of the voice that comes through the book, a voice that few would deny as that of Holiday herself, much speculation followed its publication that Holiday had had little to do with its creation; indeed, many assumed that Holiday had never even read it, though it has since clearly been shown that she was very involved in its publication.
Revered as one of the greatest and most individual vocalists in the history of blues and jazz, she died from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 44. "Billie Holiday remains among the most difficult of jazz artists to understand or study. Surrounded by a disturbing legend, it is very difficult to hear her clearly. The legendary suffering and mythopoeic pain which countless admirers have actively sought out in her work make it difficult for the merely curious to warm to a singer who was sometimes a baffling performer... [she] was a singular and unrepeatable talent whose finest hours are remarkably revealing and often surprisingly - given her generally morose reputation as an artist - joyful." (Cook and Morton Penguin Guide to Jazz)
Octavo. Original red cloth, title blocked to spine in silver and black. 250 pp. Tiny tear to margin of first text page, small ownership inscription to verso of first prelim, corners bumped and edges a little frayed, in a worn but acceptable dj. (11156)
Signed Document/Item Jazz