A Billie Holiday Celebration at Stanford Jazz Festival at Dinkelspiel Auditorium

Billie Holiday was unlike any other vocal artist in American popular music. She blazed a heroic path through abusive relationships, prison, and heroin addiction to become the pre-eminent jazz singer of her day. SJW’s tribute to this gifted songwriter and unforgettable singer convenes a stagefull of worthy participants: JazzTimes writes of internationally-celebrated chanteuse, Clairdee, “Sassy, solidly assured, crowd-pleasing form. A whole lot of interpretive brilliance.” And gritty, soulful-voiced blues diva Lady Bianca has thrilled crowds singing with artists as diverse as Van Morrison and Frank Zappa. Jazz keyboardist Larry Dunlap is the consummate musical director for this endeavor; he’s been the pianist-of-record for vocal notables Cleo Laine, Mark Murphy, The Pointer Sisters, Country Joe Macdonald and Joe Williams. It’s the ideal convergence of talent and jazz artistry to honor Lady Day....

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Billie Holiday was unlike any other vocal artist in American popular music. She blazed a heroic path through abusive relationships, prison, and heroin addiction to become the pre-eminent jazz singer of her day. SJW’s tribute to this gifted songwriter and unforgettable singer convenes a stagefull of worthy participants: JazzTimes writes of internationally-celebrated chanteuse, Clairdee, “Sassy, solidly assured, crowd-pleasing form. A whole lot of interpretive brilliance.” And gritty, soulful-voiced blues diva Lady Bianca has thrilled crowds singing with artists as diverse as Van Morrison and Frank Zappa. Jazz keyboardist Larry Dunlap is the consummate musical director for this endeavor; he’s been the pianist-of-record for vocal notables Cleo Laine, Mark Murphy, The Pointer Sisters, Country Joe Macdonald and Joe Williams. It’s the ideal convergence of talent and jazz artistry to honor Lady Day.

Personnel: Clairdee, vocals; Lady Bianca, vocals; Larry Dunlap, piano; Smith Dobson V, saxophone; John Wiitala, bass; Leon Joyce, drums

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