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The Frame

100 years of Billie Holiday: Her Los Angeles legacy

By The Frame Staff
Published Apr 7, 2015
"Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972," also known as the Capitol Records Jazz Mural, on the south wall of the Capitol Records Building, painted by artist Richard Wyatt in 1990. The mural depicts Billie Holiday alongside Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Shelly Manne, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Nat "King" Cole.
"Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972," also known as the Capitol Records Jazz Mural, on the south wall of the Capitol Records Building, painted by artist Richard Wyatt in 1990. The mural depicts Billie Holiday alongside Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Shelly Manne, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Nat "King" Cole.
(
Wally Gobetz/Flickr Creative Commons
)
Attorney Walter Gordon, Jr. examines his client, singer Billie Holiday, at the witness stand in a courtroom in Los Angeles. The case involved Holiday being sued for more than $1 million by a man who claimed that the singer had stolen a song of his. Gordon ultimately won the case for Holiday.
Attorney Walter Gordon, Jr. examines his client, singer Billie Holiday, at the witness stand in a courtroom in Los Angeles. The case involved Holiday being sued for more than $1 million by a man who claimed that the singer had stolen a song of his. Gordon ultimately won the case for Holiday.
(
Los Angeles Public Library
)
Signed publicity portrait of singer Billie Holiday addressed to Walter Gordon, Jr.; it reads, "For the best lawyer, and I do mean just that, Walter Gordon; Billie Holiday"
Signed publicity portrait of singer Billie Holiday addressed to Walter Gordon, Jr.; it reads, "For the best lawyer, and I do mean just that, Walter Gordon; Billie Holiday"
(
Friedman Engeler/Los Angeles Public Library
)
An ad from Billie Holiday's first appearance at Hollywood's Jazz City club, dated Aug. 2, 1956.
An ad from Billie Holiday's first appearance at Hollywood's Jazz City club, dated Aug. 2, 1956.
(
Courtesy James Harrod - Jazz Research
)
Billie Holiday with Buddy Collette and Corky Hale in Los Angeles.
Billie Holiday with Buddy Collette and Corky Hale in Los Angeles.
The former location of Billy Berg's, now the Los Balcones restaurant.
The former location of Billy Berg's, now the Los Balcones restaurant.
(
Courtesy James Harrod - Jazz Research
)
A napkin from Billy Berg's, a Hollywood club where Billie Holiday would sing and was famously involved in a brawl on New Year's Eve 1949.
A napkin from Billy Berg's, a Hollywood club where Billie Holiday would sing and was famously involved in a brawl on New Year's Eve 1949.
(
The Quincy Inara Collection
)
Jazz City, a Los Angeles club where Billie Holiday would perform, after the front was revamped.
Jazz City, a Los Angeles club where Billie Holiday would perform, after the front was revamped.
(
Courtesy James Harrod - Jazz Research
)
Billie Holiday at an unidentified event.
Billie Holiday at an unidentified event.
(
Los Angeles Public Library
)
Attorney Walter Gordon, Jr. reviews a document with his client, singer Billie Holiday.
Attorney Walter Gordon, Jr. reviews a document with his client, singer Billie Holiday.
(
Los Angeles Public Library
)
The gravestone of jazz singer and songwriter Billie Holiday is viewed March 25, 2015 at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in New York. Billie Holiday died with just $50 to her name taped to her thigh, but on the 100th anniversary of her birth the jazz legend is enjoying a renaissance as a trailblazer for generations of singers. Holiday was broken down by heroin use, police harassment and a husband who would beat her so severely she would tape her ribs before concerts.
The gravestone of jazz singer and songwriter Billie Holiday is viewed March 25, 2015 at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in New York. Billie Holiday died with just $50 to her name taped to her thigh, but on the 100th anniversary of her birth the jazz legend is enjoying a renaissance as a trailblazer for generations of singers. Holiday was broken down by heroin use, police harassment and a husband who would beat her so severely she would tape her ribs before concerts.
(
Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images
)

About the Show

A daily chronicle of creativity in film, TV, music, arts, and entertainment, produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from November 2014 – March 2020. Host John Horn leads the conversation, accompanied by the nation's most plugged-in cultural journalists.

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100 years of Billie Holiday: Her Los Angeles legacy

Jazz icon Billie Holiday was born 100 years ago Tuesday. And while she's an artist primarily associated with New York City, Holiday often performed in Los Angeles.

She first came to L.A. in 1940 to do one recording for the newly-formed Capitol Records. But Holiday became a more frequent performer in Southern California when her New York City cabaret card — which was required in order to work in the city's clubs — was revoked after a stint at a federal reformatory on a narcotics conviction.

No longer allowed to perform in most New York establishments, Holiday looked for other performance venues — and Los Angeles was quick to welcome her. She did several concerts in the city between 1948 and 1957. 

Gene Norman was a DJ at L.A.'s KFWB radio station at the time, and a big jazz supporter. He presented many of Holiday's shows, including one at the Shrine Auditorium in Dec. 1948.

A rare recording of the entire Shrine show is now part of a two-CD set, “Billie Holiday: Banned From New York City, Live 1948-1957.” Arts journalist Kirk Silsbee wrote an essay for the liner notes for that double CD, and he spoke with The Frame's John Horn about what makes the Shrine recording special.

"What's great about this recording is not only the fidelity; it's a good recording for a live recording of the period," said Silsbee. "But she is in top shape. It's not always the case in her live recordings."

"But in this case, she sounds just sharp as a tack. She's very tuned in to the musicians, and they to her. And so she's able to do a lot of ad-libbing and sharp, inside musical things with the rhythm and the phrasing," he said.

“Billie Holiday: Banned From New York City, Live 1948-1957” is available through UptownRecords.net.

The former location of Billy Berg's, an L.A. club where Billie Holiday was famously involved in a brawl on New Year's Eve 1949. The location is now a restaurant.