Carl van Vechten, "Billie Holiday" 1949

CARL VAN VECHTEN (1880-1964) USA

Billie Holiday    1949

Signed: Billie Holiday, March 23. 1949, III g9.11(in ink on back); PHOTOGRAPH BY CARL VAN VECHTEN, 101 CENTRAL PARK WEST, CANNOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION (ink stamp on back)

Size: H: 9 3/8” x W: 6 11/16”

Billie Holiday (1915-1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day by her sometime collaborator Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz, and pop singers’ critic John Bush wrote that she “changed the art of American pop vocals forever.” Her vocal style — strongly inspired by instrumentalists — pioneered a new way of manipulating wording and tempo, and also popularized a more personal and intimate approach to singing.