[78-L] Your Mother's Son-In-Law - BG and Billie Holiday on Columbia Blue Shellac

[Steven C. Barr]

From: "Jeff Sultanof" <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
> I'm glad you pointed this out, Taylor. While it is most certainly true 
> that
> Benny had the guts to feature black performers with a touring big band, he
> was not the first to do it; Barnet did it also, and there were one or two
> others as I recall.
> Benny said many times over the years that he didn't want to be a pioneer,
> that even integrated studio dates were taboo in those days. It was Hammond
> all along. Hammond was the one who pressed Goodman to form a white 'swing'
> orchestra; he knew that for such an orchestra to be successful, it needed 
> a
> virtuosic leader who would command attention. Hammond also wanted to 
> strike
> a blow for integration by featuring Holiday with Goodman's band. Benny 
> liked
> her singing, and apparently they had a torrid affair to hear her tell it,
> but he wasn't about to have her as a full-time member that early in the
> game. It was also Hammond who 'told' Benny to hire Benny Carter to write 
> for
> his band when they became a full-time unit.
> Hammond was a pain in the butt, and he didn't always get what he wanted.
> Benny Carter told him to go shove it when he was 'ordering' Carter what to
> record and whom to have in his band. Carter, in fact was one of the few
> black musicians who sent Hammond packing, one of the reasons why John 
> rarely
> had good things to say about him later. Benny was quiet, but you didn't 
> push
> him unless you wanted to be pushed back hard.
>
Point here being that the success of "race records" with even young
white buyers was making it abundantly clear that even in spite of
the rigid segragation of "polite" society...there was a musical market
for Black music and performers...! Thus Holiday could record
with Artie Shaw...and then an integrated band nominally led by
Teddy Wilson...! Note that Holiday's unique talents were only vaguely
related to her race (her unique timing seems to have been learned
from listening to Armstrong records...?!)...nevertheless she attracted
a small group of fans who would buy each of her records as they
were released...thus guaranteeing the sale of 1000 copies,
and an overall profit...!

Steven C. Barr