July 24, 1938 – sometime after 2pm
[SideNote: Any Old Time, released July 24, 1938.
Billie Holiday joined the band in 1938. Although Artie Shaw one of the first big band leaders in an all white band to hire a black singer, in Holiday’s own words “At first we worked together okay, then his managers started belly-aching. Pretty soon it got so I would sing just two numbers a night. When I wasn’t singing, I had to stay backstage. Artie wouldn’t let me sit out front with the band. Last year when we were at the Lincoln Hotel the hotel management told me I had to use the back door.” [DownBeat Magazine]
Holiday eventually quit after encountering racial prejudice while on the road, especially in the South.
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