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Reblogged by jeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein"):
LadyDragonfly@universeodon.com ("𝐿𝒶𝓃𝒶 :verifiedtrans:") wrote:
The year is 1949. You have just walked into the Shalimar Room, a bar with a rather seedy reputation in the logging town of Roseberg, Oregon. The band in the corner is playing jazz standards from the wartime days. "Flying Home". "If I Knew Then." "Sophisticated Swing". You sit and order a beer and listen. The pianist is good. Very good.
The band takes a break and you strike up a conversation with the young man at the piano. He's been touring the circuit now for almost 14 years, playing gigs everywhere from Seattle to Joplin to Houston to Memphis to Topeka. He's excited because this place is recording tonight's performance onto acetate "instant discs" for rebroadcast on the radio later.
The man you just met is Billie Tipton, from Oklahoma City. He lived and worked for over 50 years as a well respected pianist in the jazz scene. He took lovers, adopted children, recorded albums, and played the piano all over the country. Only after his death was it revealed he was a transgender man.
