Angela Davis introduces Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," performed by Kim Nalley & Tammy Hall

Angela Davis reads from Blues Legacies and Black Feminism to introduce Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," during a concert featuring Marcus Shelby and an all-star set of vocalists, on SFJAZZ's Fridays at Five on June 5, 2020.
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ABOUT THIS CONCERT
“I think that “Strange Fruit” is perhaps the most influential and most profound example, and a continuing site, of the intersection of music and radical social consciousness.” - Angela Davis
One of the most memorable moments from our June 5 Fridays at Five streaming concert led by SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Marcus Shelby was singer Kim Nalley and pianist Tammy Hall’s stunning duo performance of Abel Meeropol’s classic 1937 composition “Strange Fruit” - a lament on the rampant lynching of African-Americans in the South that was popularized by and largely associated with Billie Holiday. This performance, filmed in May 2019, includes a fascinating introduction by legendary author and activist Angela Davis that examines the origin of the song and Holiday’s relationship to it, taken in part from Davis’ 1998 book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism.
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[@gilly198]

She saw it, she lived it, and did everything she could to survive it.

[@keimiloutlaw2121]

From my interpretation of Strange Fruit. I feel that Ms. Hoilday performed this song as a memorial for her ancestors before herself, and while she was living her life and yes today it is revelavent to what myself along with my culture is dealing with. Being African American with a culture dating back to time will never be forgotten and moving forward will only make us stronger. Black lives matter. Next.

[@kymCPT]

6 degrees of separation and Conscientious connectedness ✊🏽Shero Angela Davis. 😔

[@mariatgarcia7564]

No body can sing it like Billie Holiday,she was living in the times.while she was singing,there was a hanging,like an everyday thing..

[@ikegreen3034]

I can’t say who best performs this powerful statement about our difficult journey in this country. The lyrics make the best case for the depth of the hatred that white supremacists harbor towards African Americans. Our very being simply is the source of the hatred of the race that has done nothing to white people to deserve this hate.

[@shirleywhite7996]

The eyes of the crowds in the photos / of this description . The eyes of long ago dead people. The thing within those eyes ..pure wickedness

[@user-tv3zv2gk7v]

I loved AD's commentary but the performance of the song proves that no one but Billie could actually do it justice. Billie let the lyrics do the work. Her delivery was simple and pure. She didn't need the vocal gymnastics or the acting to get the message across. Her stripped back, but expert ,vocal style were all this song needs.

[@icearktis9852]

❤❤❤

[@torbiejane]

Powerful interpretation!

[@mariedewitt5033]

Angela Davis supplied the Soledad brothers with guns to shoot up a courthouse and was a number 1 fugitive on the FBI list. Why is she introducing a song about nonviolence.?

[@jazztrombone]

@@mariedewitt5033 It's not about nonviolence. It's about lynching.

[@mariedewitt5033]

@@jazztrombone my point is that it is a tragic song about a lynching which should encourage nonviolence, introduced by a hypocrite who aided in murder. Of course Strange Fruit is meant to discourage violence.

[@jazztrombone]

@@mariedewitt5033 But wasn’t Strange Fruit written by a communist? Angela Davis is a communist and the Soledad brothers attack was politically based. Personally, the imagery of the song doesn’t speak to me of non-violence. It speaks to me of racial justice and a call for overthrowing white supremacy. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean through non-violence. One of my favorite recordings is by Nina Simone and she is famous for telling Martin Luther King, “I am not non-violent.” You may object to Davis’ politics and to her personally, which is certainly your right. But I thought she made a pretty persuasive summary for why this song spoke to her.

[@bessieking3797]

@@mariedewitt5033 Good to see some of the original activist survived the horrors at it's peak. Angela Davis lives to carry on the fight and she's absolutely gorgeous.

[@Kinopanorama1]

Enjoyed this video. Angela, who we knew several decades ago whilst living in the Bay Area, is every bit as verbose and informative [perhaps, with a little less radicalism mixed in] in her analysis of Lady Day's rendition of "Strange Fruit".

[@TheRealZJE313]

I just heard the original nothing it long live Billie Holiday

[@lisajackson1476]

No one can sing strange fruit like Billie Holiday.....It wasn't just a song it was the lynching of black people back then and today.....Ms. Holiday sang the song as though you could actually see the lynching taking place...

[@lisajackson1476]

It to me is fearful, when we can't and won't believe that beutiful woman,; Lady sings the blues give us the very first civil rights Anthem....Let's not forget she didn't write it, but she sang the shit out of it....J Edgar locked her up for singing the truth by someone who wrote the song and look just like him...Go Figure...

[@showbizstories3586]

You are right. No one sings this like Billie although Nina Simone gives an amazing version. You should also check out 3 Mo' Divas singing a classical/blues arrangement that is quite extraordinary. They are on Showbiz Stories channel.

[@sahirygnobehi6448]

@@showbizstories3586 .. Yes. Mrs. Simone did it beautifully. With respect to Mrs. Holliday.😊✌

[@oya270]

Lisa, Nina Simone gave her a run for her money with this song!! Lol

[@Kinopanorama1]

Billie Holiday is a legend; her rendition of "Strange Fruit" comes from the heart.

[@taralang8854]

the woman sings it good but there is something about how billie holiday sings it. it was so powerful and it still is it always makes me cry

[@bmw3842]

hat annoys me to this day .is when you hear cities celebrating their heritage and all the while were discriminating against Black People .And not letting them participate in the celebration.

[@yvonneowens5963]

Brava to the Black woman artist and the Black woman intellectual, and bravo to the the Lefty Jewish composer.

[@protectedmusiclover850]

This is some incredible footage! Wait! Is that Terri Lyne Carrington on drums?

[@karlsmith6495]

Too much drama in this performance. Give me Billie's understated interpretation any day. She was able to let the words and her voice do the work without the need for vocal gymnastics to get the message across. That was her art and no one else can touch her on that score.

[@showbizstories3586]

Check out the powerful and poignant performance of Strange Fruit by the amazing 3 MO' DIVAS on the Showbiz Stories channel! A very unique arrangement combined with the rarely heard Lament!

[@danielappel1368]

Your assessment is spot on.

[@MrsTiffanyMartinez]

Annnnd 4:42 is where I paused ⏸. I only played this video because of 👨🏽‍🦱✊🏽 & Billie was mentioned! Maybe I'm a little bias, but I only want to hear Billie singing Billie's songs, it's not personal. On that note, and off the topic, it still annoys my soul, how only Billie was singing *Strange Fruit* and none of her so-called friends in the business were singing it. Until she was, well...you know. Just imagined the ripple effect that would have created, had those "friends" surrounded the hospital 🏥 where she lay dying and other locations (get exposure/media attention) lined the streets in every city, protesting and singing *Strange Fruit* worldwide...until they freed here. But they didn't. They all remained silent 🤫. They could have been the original blm movement. She might still be here, at 106+ years old..never know. *Much Respect* Asé. Vinyl Collector 🎙🎧

[@showbizstories3586]

This person is "singing and acting" this song and it deserves the vocalist to live it. In the first line she is so disconnected to the text and depth she moves the microphone to get a desired singers "effect". That set the tone for the remaining "act" that follows. Her soul or life is not ready for this song.

[@annettebillings5216]

Yes, the song and words demand/deserve more!

[@Elizabethitsthebig1]

Nina Simone did the best cover ever all others fall SHORT!

[@showbizstories3586]

Check out the powerful and poignant performance of Strange Fruit by the amazing 3 MO' DIVAS on the Showbiz Stories channel! A very unique arrangement combined with the rarely heard Lament!

[@mgarland6376]

I agree 100 % Ms. Simone made the words come alive.

[@showbizstories3586]

@@mgarland6376 Check out the powerful and poignant performance of Strange Fruit by the amazing 3 MO' DIVAS on the Showbiz Stories channel! A very unique arrangement combined with the rarely heard Lament!

[@danielappel1368]

Nina may have done the best cover, but for me, Billie owns it, no matter what iteration. Everyone is riffing off her, including Nina.

[@showbizstories3586]

Check out the powerful and poignant performance of Strange Fruit by the amazing 3 MO' DIVAS on the Showbiz Stories channel! A very unique arrangement combined with the rarely heard Lament!

[@reyway12]

Tell em sis....return to righteousnessne! 🕎 Duet. 31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will HIDE MY FACE FROM THEM, and they shall be DEVOURED, and MANY EVILS and TROUBLES shall befall them; so that👉🏾 THEY WILL SAY IN THAT DAY. ARE NOT THESE EVILS COME UPON US, BECAUSE OUR GOD IS NOT AMONG US? 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are TURNED UNTO OTHER GODS. 19 Now therefore WRITE YE THIS SONG FOR YOU, and TEACH IT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: PUT IT IN THEIR MOUTHS, that this👉🏾 SONG MAY BE A WITNESS FOR ME AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.👈🏽 21 And it shall COME TO PASS, when MANY EVILS AND TROUBLES ARE BEFALLEN THEM, that this🗣🎶 SONG SHALL TESTIFY AGAINST THEM as a witness; for it shall NOT BE FORGOTTEN out of the mouths of THEIR SEED: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. 22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and TAUGHT IT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.

[@nahalaaviyahyasharel3280]

HALLELUYAH

[@curtisstewart9426]

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, tried desperately to get her husband, FDR, to support an anti-lynching Bill, to be introduced. But, it fell on deaf ears. It was just too political to have that Bill introduced.

[@alexmena3485]

What is the point of politics if things can be "too political", ugh still though, i understand what it was like, a terrible thought. not much better now.

[@aarondigby5054]

FDR was a lying fake of a person, ot was Eleanor Roosevelt that was running the country, FDR was a useless slob who betrayed his wife.

[@guilhermedantas3200]

The piano was amazing! Nice look into what the original was. Though I am afraid the singer was not so good and was distracting in a bad way.

[@henktimmerman7047]

Too heavy interpretation. This song calls for subdued, intense singing, not for vocal exercise.

[@gav9385]

I agree.

[@bessieking3797]

Doesn't matter who or how it's song. The message remain the same.. it's a beautiful sad song. It's a love song of the most powerful kind. In the midst of all the hate.

[@showbizstories3586]

@@bessieking3797 Check out the powerful and poignant performance of Strange Fruit by the amazing 3 MO' DIVAS on the Showbiz Stories channel! A very unique arrangement combined with the rarely heard Lament!

[@thomassmith1071]

it a sin that will return..

[@kimakotrotman6860]

"Sing that sexy song of bodies".

[@johnbrowne3950]

Why isn't that Commie in jail?

[@mpilkati]

First of all I adore Lady D and I am a very antiracist person. but I have to say that for you Americans the comunism is somthing like exotic and beautilul justice regime , but I have survived one of the most orthodoxic one of the dictatorial comunist regime, and I will telll you that was very very cruel. You have to be aware of what you want becouse this is too dangerous

[@KingBranBDM]

Extreme communism & capitalism are both very bad.

[@bearlywork1816]

Are you going to tell every Black communist, like Angela Davis, that their form of liberation is wrong? That the ways they experience oppression is not actually tied to or is indivisible from capitalism, but something else? Do you think racism exists in a vacuum? You cannot be anitracist and then misinterpret communism*s*, not listen to what they imagine liberation to be, then act as if Black communists have not experienced cruel cruel dictatorships.

[@bearlywork1816]

@@KingBranBDM what do you think you are saying? Like, what message are you trying to make?

[@KingBranBDM]

@@bearlywork1816 just as you read there's no choose one side. Proper Balance is needed. The extremes of both are horrible.

[@KingBranBDM]

@@bearlywork1816 many Black people of that time chose a communistic approach as a mean to move as one and gain the reparation of redistributed wealth.