Lovely photo of "Lady Day" and "Satchmo" taken probably some time in late 1940s (they made a movie together in 1947. titled "New Orleans").
They are both remembered today as Jazz legends - she like eternaly melancholic, self-distructive lady with gardenia, he as clowning, grinning abasador of Jazz. Public perception is one thing, contemporary media coverage another, recorded music lives on as a testament of how vibrant and creative they were. Somewhere between these broken pieces of a mirror I have my own impression about living,breathing people who happen to live at particular time when lots of doors were closed to them,no matter how big,important and influential they were. Nothing is ever black-and-white so these two people were not what image showed - Armstrong was not always happy,clowning old uncle who entertained the world (he lifted himself from a crashing poverty of New Orleans slums and knew his place in a basically white world of show bussiness, basically knowingly accepting protection of a white manager) while Holiday was not only a depressed drug addict who scandalized contemporary society but a outgoing, outspoken and brave woman who loved good time and knew hot to party. Everybody who knew them describes them as fun, slightly eccentric and much loved friends - unfortunately Holiday got her reputation posthumously cemented with silly Hollywood movie biography that outraged her colleagues and contemporaries. At the time when this photo was taken, Holiday was around 32 and Armstrong only few yers older - they both look delighted to be in each other company and glow happilly here, this is the way I prefer to remember them.
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