Billie Sunday, no.3 - Bessie & Louis

Today’s Billie Sunday is devoted to Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong -- the two main musical influences on Lady Day. In her own words:

I think I copied my style from Louis Armstrong. Because I used to like the big volume and the big sound that Bessie Smith got when she sang. But when I was quite young, I heard a record Louis Armstrong made called the “West End Blues.” And he doesn’t say any words, and I thought, this is wonderful! And I like the feeling he got from it. So I liked the feeling that Louis got and I wanted the big volume that Bessie Smith got. But I found that it didn’t work with me, because I didn’t have a big voice. So anyway between the two of them I sorta got Billie Holiday.

Louis Armstrong - West End Blues

What I find interesting about Billie’s statement is how it places the influence of Bessie Smith. For while Lady Day claims that it was “between the two of them” that she got her way of singing, she only states that (because of her smaller voice) she couldn’t be Bessie. Whereas Louis’ “singing” with his horn was a way of approaching a song which she wanted to emulate and felt as though she could. And many musicians have commented on the horn-like quality to Billie’s singing.

Again Billie:

I don’t think I’m singing. I feel like I am playing a horn. I try to improvise like Lester Young, like Louis Armstrong, or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel. I hate straight singing.

So where does that leave Bessie’s influence? For folks wanting a rather more nuanced and informed take on the subject than I’m capable of, I recommend you take a look at what Gunther Schuller has to say. But listen to this clip of Bessie singing “Back Water Blues.”

Bessie Smith - Back Water Blues

One thing I hear in relation to Billie is how Bessie just saunters through the song. How often Billie strolls easy -- like she’s a billionaire of time. But that only takes us back to the “feel” of “West End Blues.” For it, too, is surely one of the more leisurely takes on the blues, with the band moving like they had all the time in the world, knowing full-well they could never be late. And thus we are back to the question of what Billie took specifically from Bessie. Like I said, see old Gunther, for he is a more knowledgeable guide through these streets. Here’s Billie and Lester making it look too easy with Irving Berlin’s “This Year’s Kisses.”

Billie Holiday - This Year's Kisses