Billie Holiday is not only the best jazz singer ever… She was the first singer who made the singing equivalent to the instruments in the band. Before Billie Holiday, singing in jazz music was just a short refrain. It was considered as a “necessary evil” by jazz musicians who wanted to sell their records because with the refrain people who were supposed to buy a record could keep the song in their mind. What I mean by that is that the consumer knew the name of the song by the refrain. Billie Holiday changed this in a way. She was with her singing on the same level like the musicians. It’s said that she “thought” like a saxophone player.
I’m an actor who sings well but I’m honestly too shy to audition for musical theatre because I don’t have solid sight-reading skills. I have had voice training and practice with choral singing, and have a very good ear, but I’m unsure if you need to be able to read music in the rehearsal process when learning the score.
Does the musical director working on the show help you?
P.S. I’m referring only to professional Equity theatre.
A fundamental issue in the study of jazz is the relationship between white Americans and African Americans. Some have argued that all important movements in jazz have been initiated by African Americans, and that white jazz musicians are at best imitators and at worst thieves. What evidence can support this argument? What evidence contradicts it?