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Title: Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis ISBN: 0-679-77126-3 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Breaking ground
Comment: I have to agree with the reviewer from Turkey who wrote positively about Davis' "Strange Fruit" chapter in Blues Legacies. I recently wrote a term paper on the song Strange Fruit in which I referred to both David Margolick's recent release about Strange Fruit and Davis' Blues Legacies. I was very impressed with Davis' depiction of Holiday as an individual and an entertainer. It seemed that she brought a more well-rounded and objective perspective on the singer into the world of Billie Holiday biographies. Her take on the song and on Holiday's connection to it are, shall we say, refreshing, in that it takes a novel approach to the singer -- one that attempts to remain impartial to the popular image of Holiday. This book is also an excellent reference for those studying feminism, jazz, Afro-Americana and/or the lives of the three women (Rainey, Holiday and Smith) showcased in Davis' Blues Legacies.
Rating: 5
Summary: A wonderful analysis of Strange Fruit and Billie Holiday
Comment: If you expect to read a traditional biography you may be dissappointed. The lives of the blues women and their political messages behind their songs are discussed in one another's light. This works very well as blues is a folk music which tells many things about the black experience and most singers are song writers themselves. The section about Billie Holiday and her song Strange Fruit is one of the rare approaches to Lady Day as an artist who gave a very important political messages about racism. In other biographies Billie Holiday is always portrayed as a victim rather than a person who had an important political message. I believe this very style of her portrayal could be discussed in a feminist context and that's what Angela Davies did in this book with her vast knowledge and experience in black politics and gender issues. Some people criticize the book for being overtly political. However, I see no other way of analyzing the blues without its political context. The transcriptions of the songs also gives a documentary value to this book. It has been a great reference for my research in this field. I wish I can get in touch with Angela Davies one day and discuss her about the research she has done while preparing this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Permission and Intent
Comment: Davis' title explains her project in clear terms at the outset. She is not engaged in a critique of modern women in popular music (as one reviewer anticipated). Nor is she profiling these women in biography format. Therefore, she does not need the permission of Rainey's relatives for this project. Her goal is to uncover the pre-feminist sentiments expressed in these women's music. In that regard, she needs only the barest biographical information (that women performers were not rooted to hearth and home, traveled, worked, and had marquee positions). Assuming this general information to be true of all these women, Davis then concentrates her primary energy on the legacy that blues lyrics leave for Black Feminism. Part of that legacy is found in the advice on romance, religion, and race that these women's songs shared (or share now) with black female listeners. I hope this gives readers an accurate idea of what to expect from this worthwhile book and encourages disappointed readers to re-encounter the book on its own terms.
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Title: Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s by Daphne Harrison ISBN: 0813512808 Publisher: Rutgers University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Blues People: Negro Music in White America by Imamu Amiri Baraka, Amiri Baraka, Leroi Jones ISBN: 068818474X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 June, 1963 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Stomping the Blues by Albert Murray ISBN: 0306803623 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: August, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Bessie by Chris Albertson ISBN: 0300099029 Publisher: Yale University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop by Guthrie P., Jr. Ramsey ISBN: 0520210484 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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