Singerman Nat (1 results)

A previously unseen photograph of the legendary jazz singer in her prime - boldly signed by her in white ink - showing her in a club setting, listening, waiting for her cue at the microphone, wearing an elegant, long white dress with a trademark gardenia in her hair. Nat Singerman was a professional photographer and co-owner of the Character Arts Photo Studio in Cleveland during the 1940s and 1950s - a period when he met and befriended many jazz legends who performed at clubs in and around Cleveland and Chicago. "His bread and butter was doing weddings and other events.[but] he would go to see [jazz musicians] whenever they came to town. He collected old 78s that some of these artists had made when they were much younger. For example, he had Louis Armstrong records from the 20s, and he would bring these classics, and Louis would sign in white ink his name, sometimes 'to Nat'. He had Billie Holiday sign, he had all kinds of other people sign these records" (New York Times interview with film archivist Joe Lauro, 3 Sept. 2013). The image probably dates to late June or early July 1948, when Holiday played a week at Café Tia Juana in Cleveland, a stylish nightspot that hosted such luminaries as Erroll Garner, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat "King" Cole, and Sarah Vaughan. The clarinettist accompanying Billie in this portrait is Tony Scott. Holiday recorded with Scott in June 1956 (for Verve) and the reedman was part of the group who accompanied her at her celebrated Carnegie Hall appearance on 10 November of that year. Scott was responsible for introducing Billie to accompanist Bobby Tucker, who worked with Holiday from 1946 to 1949. Tucker was initially unimpressed but Scott told him: "When Ella sings 'My man's he's left me', you think the guy went down the street for a loaf of bread. But when Lady sings, you can see that guy going down the street. He's got his bags packed and he ain't never coming back'" (Blackburn, p. 178). Julia Blackburn, With Billie, 2006; Ken Vail, Lady Day's Diary: The Life of Billie Holiday 1937-1959, 1996. Original silver gelatin print (image 245 x 195 mm), attractively framed and glazed (overall 340 x 290 mm). A couple of small spots within the area of Holiday's dress: overall very good.