Billie Holiday, Queen of Jazz

I remember sipping diet Pepsi from a tall glass on the veranda outside my grandparent’s home in Slidell, Louisiana. The melancholy notes of Billie Holiday would float from the record player into the humid summer nights, mingling with the sound of crickets and the smell of heavy southern spices from dinner. My grandfather would sing the words perfectly along with Miss Holiday, taking my hand and dancing me around the plastic porch furniture. I can still hear grandpa’s voice singing Billie Holiday on those hot summer nights. I realize that Billie Holiday didn’t sing during the Roaring Twenties, but she did surface shortly after in 1933.

Billie Holiday became the queen of jazz just after the Jazz Age. The first song she ever recorded was “Your Mother’s Son-In-Law” released November 27, 1933. This song is considered important because it was Holiday’s introduction to the world and her signature song in the early thirties. The song could be classified as a love ballad, but it is more of a silly tune about a woman wishing the man she is singing about would be her mother’s son-in-law. I chose this song because you can hear the fun and light-hearted attitude Holiday had while performing the song. Many of her recorded songs talk about the tragedy of love and the longing she had for a great and memorable love. I found “Your Mother’s Son-In-Law” a nice change to such serious lyrics. Besides Holiday’s unique voice, the song is accompanied by jazz musicians Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden on the trumpet and piano. It is a great song, I encourage everone to listen to any of Billie Holiday. She was fabulous. I found the lyrics and the song information at www.billieholidaysongs.com.