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Smashhits from the 30s

LalehForWD

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billie-holiday.jpg

Billie Holiday

The fantastic music of the 1930s is laying out there for you to discover. I love to explore new music and the 30s is so rich and full of life. Youtube and/or Spotify are great tools to use. My favourites are among others the singer Billie Holiday, the trumpet player Louis Armstrong and the great Mills Brothers. If you find a film clip or a good fanmade presentation from the 20s, 30s or 40s, please post them here! :)
 

LalehForWD

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Le Quinttete du Hot Club de France - Franska Hotkvintetten
Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli - Jazz Hot (advertisement 1939)
skip to 3:00, "How it is played is what counts" :D
 

RainyWoods

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Ah now this is my kind of thread. One of my biggest passions in life is music from that era. Billie Holiday is probably my favourite artist of all time and the reason i'm so into jazz music today.

"Don't Explain" is one of my favourite songs. Can't describe the feelings I get when listening to it. It was one of the few songs Billie actually wrote herself, it was about an abusive relationship she was in. No one sung pain like Billie did.. to this day even. It's rare you'll find artists that connect and give to us everything through music, the good and the ugly. She was the greatest jazz singer.


The music from her later years was literally heartbreakingly painful to listen to. Her voice had deteriorated from the drugs.. yet despite how withered it was, it was at it's most beautiful and poignant. This song has to be one of her best. Billie cried when this was played back to her in the studio..




Unrelated to the 1930's topic but have you heard of Madeleine Peyroux? She literally channels Billie when she sings. She's amazing.
 

LalehForWD

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Great selection and words about Billie Holiday! xrosexrose

> Madeleine Peyroux?
No, but I will look her up now ;)

There's so much great stuff from the 30s, the hard part is to find a decent video/presentation to make it visual. The early recordings got that raw quality and vitality in them, a feature that totally disappear later in the 40s-50s in my opinion. Berlin and Paris music scene during 20s-30s are unknown to me, but I bet they are treasure chests just waiting to be open. :)

edit:
OK, Madeleine Peyroux is pretty nice and apparently just released a new album, "The Blue Room". She reminds me of a favourite of mine, Joan Osborne (more soul/blues/rock though) (for example: Joan Osborne - How Sweet it is). Her Billie Holiday connection must come from her first album "Dreamland", right? For example:
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter :cool:
(Getting Some) Fun Out Of Life :cool:
 

RainyWoods

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It's true what you say:p I could spend hours looking up old songs on youtube and I often do. I'll have to share some more here soon.

A lot of people would be put off by the sound quality of these early recordings.. especially from the live recordings which some exist with accompanying video footage. I love that old sound though. That raw quality you can't recreate today. It through years of the master copies deteriorating plus the very early equipment used and the methods that we are left with that haunting, very raw and exposed sound.

I'd like to explore the french music from 20's, 30's as well. I imagine the chansons from that time would be stunning.



Madeleine Peyroux is fantastic. I recommend a song by hers called "Ophelia". I think it's one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard. She does have a very similar soul to Billie's. Dripping in melancholy. It's effortless emotion. True and honest.
 

LalehForWD

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Monica Zetterlund was a great Swedish star during the 60s and 70s. Prominent as an actress in Tage Danielsson/Hasse Alfredson movies and shows, but most important as a jazz singer. Her major breakthrough came with Sakta vi gå genom stan 1962, a cover of Walkin' My Baby Back Home (1930) with Swedish lyrics by famous cultural personality Beppe Wolgers. I believe it was a kind of retro song in 1962 and there has been many versions since then. It soon became a Swedish classic. A famous quote about her: "Ett lingonris i ett cocktailglas". Monica Z is a Swedish/Danish movie which will be released in autumn 2013. A music video of Sakta vi gå genom stan with scenes from the film performed by Edda Magnason has been released. So, here we got a beautiful 30s atmosphere in a retro song cover of a retro song cover. ;):D

:se: Edda Magnason - Sakta vi gå genom stan (Monica Zetterlund cover, Monica Z soundtrack, 2013)
 
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