BILLIE HOLIDAY

HOLIDAY, Billie (1915-1959).

Vintage black and white photograph of Billie Holiday making a personal appearance at The Groove Record Shop, Chicago, 1941, signed and inscribed in blue ink by Holiday: ‘To Too [sic] fine and mellow people Bernice an [sic] Bill, stay on it, Billie Holiday.’ Holiday is holding an Okeh record, which dates the photo to 1941 as the only year she recorded with the Okeh label. The recipients were Bernice and Bill Chavers, who ran The Groove Record Shop on Chicago’s south side.

The image by Caldwell, vintage gelatin silver press print, 1941, signed by the photographer in white ink recto, photographer’s credit stamp and blue pencil crop markings verso, 200 x 249 mm, framed (272 x 316 mm). Provenance: Heritage Auctions, Dallas, 6 December 2014, lot 89506.

[With:] a large black and white photograph of Billie Holiday drumming with Lionel Hampton on stage at the Aquarium Club, New York, late 1940s. The image by Stovall, gelatin silver print, printed 1972, inscribed in ink ‘Stovall photo’ recto, similarly inscribed and dated verso, 275 x 340 mm, framed (390 x 463 mm).