The Expressiveness of Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday had the fantastic ability to put soul into her jazz music, showing the world her musical personality. Without a music education, Holiday was still able to use her “go with the flow” personality in order to climb higher up in the music industry. This big personality shines bright in this interview of her describing one of her first auditions.

Around the two minutes and thirty seconds marker, Billie describes how in the audition her accompanist asked her what key her song was in, and Billie’s perfect response is this: “I dunno man, just play it!”. This is a prime example of the kind of performer Holiday was. Her personality flavored her music every time she sang. This was expressed through many ways, such as her manipulation of tempo and phrasing, her improvisation, and as Frances Rowe describes it, her ability to be vulnerable onstage. She was truly a one-of-a-kind performer.

    Holiday’s innovative manipulation of tempo and phrasing used to express herself was a huge staple of her work. To see this in action, listen to this video of Ella Fitzgerald singing “Them There Eyes”, and then Billie Holiday singing the same song.




    If you tap your foot to the Billie Holiday version, you can tell she’s not hitting the beat the same way as Fitzgerald. Holiday assertively sings the song with her own idea of phrasing and tempo, whereas Fitzgerald sings the song more straightforward. Billie’s ability to do this packs the song with specific characterization that you can hear in her voice without even seeing her perform it.

    Holiday was also an impressive improviser, adding to the expression of her music. One of her greatest influencers, Louis Armstrong, taught her the art of using her voice as an instrument of improvisation (Burnett James, Billie Holiday). With Louis’ help, Billie was able to take liberties in any song she sang, trying new things as she went on. This allowed Billie to sing with even more personality than before, and she loved as well as her audiences loved it. She even tried to model her voice to sound similar to the way Lester Young improvised on his saxophone when collaborating with him (www.theguardian.com). The way Holiday improvised gave her music an expressive quality that could not be achieved any other way.

    Billie Holiday’s song, “Strange Fruit”, demonstrates how vulnerable her expression was as well. This song discusses the deep issue of racism in America, and it was one of Holiday’s most famous pieces.




“Sometimes perfection happens, and this was one of those times… the perfect horror described in a voice which could encompass horror without apparent effort or strain… To bring into the world of singing, light-hearted of blues-like jazz a song about the deepest shame of racist America was like inviting your neighborhood murder to your Fourth of July barbecue and expecting your friends to accept him as just another guest”
- Frances Rowe, who heard Billie Holiday perform in the late 1950’s (Strange Fruit)

    This hauntingly beautiful piece showcases her ability to captivate an audience in a different way. This song grabs the heart of the listener with the devastating truth behind it, and the way she delivers it makes it even more devastating. When she performed it at Carnegie Hall, it was, “heard in utter silence, but with intense applause at the end” (David Margolick, Strange Fruit). Many people say when she sang this song, she seemed to go into a world of her own. Her vulnerability and willingness to share this piece with the world is a rare and beautiful talent in a performer.

    Billie Holiday was arguably one of the most expressive jazz singers of her time. Through improvisation, tempo, and vulnerability, she was able to express her personality through song. The world of jazz today would not be the same without her influence.


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