WOW AUTOGRAPHED BILLIE HOLIDAY Blues 78

	£		184
	$		244

ANOTHER INCREDIBLY RARE ITEM FROM THE DAVE CAREY JAZZ AND BLUES COLLECTION!!

THIS IS A GENUINE AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF BILLIE HOLIDAY ON AN ORIGINAL VOCALION 78!! 

Billie Holiday's grandfather was one of 17 children of a black Virginia slave and a white Irish plantation owner. Her mother was only 13 when she was born.

The future "Lady Day" first heard the music of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith on a Victrola at Alice Dean's, the Baltimore "house of ill repute" where she ran errands and scrubbed floors as a young girl. She made her singing debut in obscure Harlem nightclubs (borrowing her professional name from screen star Billie Dove), then toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw before going solo. Benny Goodman dragged the frightened singer to her first studio session. Between 1933 and 1944, she recorded over 200 "sides," but she never received royalties for any of them.

Despite a lack of technical training, Holiday's unique diction, inimitable phrasing and acute dramatic intensity made her the outstanding jazz singer of her day. White gardenias, worn in her hair, became her trademark.

"Singing songs like the 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck," she wrote in her autobiography. "I've lived songs like that." Her own compositions included "God Bless the Child," espousing the virtues of financial independence and "Don't Explain," lament on infidelity.

Billie Holiday, a musical legend still popular today, died an untimely death at the age of 44.

THE AUTOGRAPH WAS OBTAINED BY DAVE CAREY (THE FAMOUS UK JAZZ BAND LEADER - see biog. below) FOR HIS OWN COLLECTION DURING BILLIE HOLIDAY'S TOUR TO EUROPE IN 1954.

ABOUT Dave Carey and his collection

Dave Arthur Carey was born in Coulsdon, Surrey on 8 November 1914.  His father was a pianist.  Dave took up drums at an early age and by the early 1930s was leading his own band in the Croydon area, developing an interest in jazz through records.  Shortly before the outbreak of war in 1939, Dave opened a musical instrument shop in Streatham.  He was called up for service in the R.A.F. stationed at Uxbidge and Northolt and began playing drums with several small groups.  When the war was over, he returned to civilian life and in 1946 opened "The Swing Shop" in Streatham, selling musical instruments, accessories and records.  The records side of the business soon became predominant and was linked with a mail order facility, which he ran from home with his wife, Joan. On the playing side, Dave continued to work with dance bands, but was able to get an increasing number of jazz gigs. He played and recorded with Ellington cornet star, Rex Stewart in 1947.  Dave took over on drums with Graeme Bell''s Australian Jazz Band in 1948 and later in the year joined Humphrey Lyttelton, with whom he stayed for a year, which included recording with the band.  Dave was also an accomplished vibes player, but didn''t use them with his own band.  His other alternative instrument was the washboard - a spirited performer on this homely device. Dave sadly died in 1999 and his personal collection of some 9000+ 78's and a similar quantity of Vinyl has been mothballed until now. Over the next year the rarer blues and jazz pieces from the collection will be auctioned here on eBay with many others available at set sale prices via Greg's Greats eBayShop and Foxton Record Fairs. - see "me"  http://members.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=gregsgreats

ABOUT THE RECORD:-  VOCALION 3440

A SIDE:-

PLEASE KEEP ME IN YOUR DREAMS

IF MY HEART COULD ONLY TALK

The record is in G+/V- condition overall - mainly rated down due to a small hairline crack froming at the edge - running about one inch into the record. The record itself still plays strongly and doesn't skip - If it wasn't for the hairline I would rate the A-side as E- and the B side as Ex+

I have never seen anything like this up for auction on eBay before - SO DON'T MISS OUT !!!

THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY TO BUY THIS RARE RARE ITEM - SO DON'T LEAVE IT TOO LATE - BID NOW!!