The pianist, Ellerton Oswald, or Sonny White, was born in Panama City on November 11, 1917. By the mid-1930s, he was in the United States playing with musicians such as Jesse Stone, Willie Bryant, Sidney Bechet, Teddy Hill, Frankie Newton and Billie Holiday.
In the history of Jazz music, Sonny White is best known as the pianist who accompanied Billie Holiday on the legendary song, “Strange Fruit”, the 1939 musical piece that converted the singer into a world renowned star.
“Strange Fruit” is a melody based on a poem written by Abel Meeropol (who used the pen-name, Lewis Allen), a Jewish professor who lived in the Bronx. Meeropol was inspired to write the poem by the lynching of African-Americans Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. The song is considered a perfect work of art and preached against lynching in the Southern states of the US, becoming one of the first major slogans of the civil rights movement.
The text of the poem was simple and powerful and audiences clamored for it. The verses eventually were heard in Café Society, a night club in Greenwich Village.
Billie Holiday remembers Sonny White in her autobiography, Lady Sing the Blues, where she writes about their experience producing the classic “Strange Fruit”.
“The germ of the song was in a poem written by Lewis Allen. I first met him at Café Society. When he showed me that poem, I dug it right off. It seemed to spell out all the things that had killed Pop. Allen, too, had heard how Pop died and of course was interested in my singing. He suggested that Sonny White, who had been my accompanist, and I turn it into music. So the three of us got together and did the job in about three weeks. I also got a wonderful assist from Danny Mendelsohn, another writer who had done arrangements for me. He helped me with arranging the song and rehearsing it patiently. I worked like the devil on it…”
When it was time to record, Holiday went to her label, Columbia Records. However, Columbia rejected the song, and it was finally recorded by the label, Commodore.
In July, 1939, “Strange Fruit” reached No. 16 in the charts and Time magazine called it musical propaganda for African-American rights groups.
After the success of the song, Sonny White remained active in the music scene, working with Artie Shaw and Benny Carter. After WWII, White expanded his work to Rhythm & Blues and popular music of the time.
White appeared with Big Joe Turner, one of the precursors of Rock & Roll; Lena Horne, disciple of Billie Holiday; the popular Dexter Gordon, and also collaborated with guitarist Lawrence Lucie, drummer Big Sid Cattlet, and Roy Eldridge, one of the best trumpet players of all time.
The musical influences of Sonny White include Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington.
Sonny White died in New York on April 28, 1971. Before his death he had been working with Wilbur DeParis, Eddie Barefield, and the trumpet player, Jonah Jones.
Strange Fruit : Fruta Extraña
By Abel Meeropol (Written under the artistic name, Lewis Allen)
Southern trees bear strange fruit
