The Jazz Age

The Jazz Age

Many of the influential artists of the past came from the jazz age such as Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Basie and Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, and many others.

Frank Sinatra was dominating the scene in 1947. He had a voice that was carefully articulated, and had meaningful quality that could make everyone feel that he was sending a private message in his songs to everyone in the audience. It was not however a happy scene. This was widely known as Sinatra's career skidding down. His personal appearances were gone along with the screaming fans. His once top charted recordings were now near the bottom, if they even placed at all. His contracts with filmmakers and record dealers were thinking about dropping him.

Sinatra's problems were due to a few factors with his career. One of them was the fact that he held friendships with Mafia bosses, and his obvious womanizing of all fans and press. There were outside sources too, including the introduction to newer singing styles.

Sinatra wasn't the only one hurting during this time. The big band swing era was on its way out too. The bands started taking strike after the war and singers became the main attraction as apposed to the band. People were paying more attention to the singers as the main performer and the band were placed somewhere less needed. Sinatra had been undermining the band swing era that had been his foundation. Sinatra's orchestra was the foundation of his career and what had originally made him famous, but by 1947 his orchestra was no longer in existence. For several years Sinatra kept singing expertly but he was very modest about it. His musical career was instant and fantastic, and he was once again a superstar reaching a status that is so great.

In 1948, Billie Holiday was at her peak, physically and musically. Surprisingly the main reason due to her transformation was her spending time in a federal reformatory for the possession of narcotics. While she was in the federal reformatory she was stripped of her narcotics and because of this she lost her pudginess and became a strikingly beautiful woman. Even after not singing for so long her voice was retained and was said to be even richer and more refined than before.

Billie Holiday was unable to work at nightclubs because of police restrictions with performers with criminal records.