Hey y’all, here’s my performance in my jazz  class, hope ya’ll dig it!

So you feel just like your there;

PERFORMANCE NOTES

PERFORMANCE #1

PROGRAM NOTES

1.Title of Composition

God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday

2.Name(s) of Composers and Lyricists 

The song was written by Billie Holiday & Arthur Herzog Jr.

3.Information about the meaning/history of the composition 

According to Billie Holiday in her autobiography, “Lady Sings the Blues”, the inspiration of the tune came about from an argument that she had with her mother. 

There also seems to be a direct reference she is making to The Bible in Matthew 25:29 where Jesus says, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” 

3.Information about notable recordings of the composition

God Bless the Child was first recorded in 1941 & there were later versions recorded in the 1950s. 

4.Personnel, recording date, record label of any notable performances 

Personnel sitting in on the 1941 recording session included,

Vocals: Billie Holiday Piano: Eddie Heywood Trumpet: Roy Eldridge, Ernie Powell Alto sax: Jimmy Powell, Lester Boone Guitar: Johan Robins, Paul Chapman Bass: Grachan Moncur II

Drums: Herbert Cowans  

The recording date was May 9th, 1941 through “Okeh Records” at Columbia Studio in New York City and released as a single in 1942. 

5.Any notable musical features of the composition (form, chord progression, melodic development, lyrical structure, etc)

God Bless the Child deviates from a typical 32 bar song structure by expanding its “A” part to 10 bars rather than the normative eight. 

Notable jazz pianist and music instructor Kent Hewitt talking about Billie Holiday and her Vocal approach said,”Billie Holiday's highly stylized reading of this blues tradition revolutionized traditional pop, ripping the decades-long tradition of song plugging in two by refusing to compromise her artistry for either the song or the band.” I agree with Kent on the potency of Billie’s historical impact on music, but I don’t think it was through seeking to “refusing to compromise her artistry” (although that was one of the fruits of her work) . It appears to me that Billie Holiday's delivery was so tied to expressing the meaning of the song to her listeners that as a result she inevitably sounded more original; she got out of the way and by The Grace of God we were left with the song. Today I aim to do the same.

My name is Ronnie Blanchet and I’ll be most graciously joined by 

• Adam Hersh-Piano
• Corbin Jones-Bass

• Dean Koba-Drums

God bless you n’ thanks for watchin’!

SOLI DEO GLORIA☝‍☠️
(To The Glory Of God Alone)
Father, Son & Holy Spirit
-Ronnie