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| WKCR 2005 Billie Holiday Festival WKCR FM (89.9 in New York) is pleased to announce the Billie Holiday Festival, a broadcast in celebration of the 90th birthday of the legendary jazz vocalist. From April 1st through April 15th, WKCR becomes Billie Holiday Radio—wall-to-wall Lady Day for two weeks, all day and all night. Holiday’s recorded legacy will take center stage, from her rarest recordings to her most celebrated, a full-scale tribute to the timeless musical splendor of the great Lady. Billie Holiday, born on April 7th, 1915, came of age during the golden years of jazz, inspired by classic records of Louis Armstrong and blues singers such as Bessie Smith. After a recording debut with Benny Goodman in 1933, Holiday’s pioneering small-group sessions of the mid-1930s established her as a pivotal innovator in jazz singing. Her vocal performances in the swing era, marked by a relaxed improvisational approach to a song’s melody, were true jazz solos equal to those of the instrumental geniuses on these records, including Teddy Wilson, Roy Eldridge, and her musical soulmate Lester Young. With further hit records in the Forties, Holiday became and remained one of the era’s most visible divas in any field. Holiday died in 1959 at age forty-four, having risen to popular stardom and sunken to personal despair. Her musical achievements remain the foundation of jazz singing even today. The Billie Holiday Festival will bring the same level of in-depth and extensive presentation you’ve come to expect from WKCR: all of her records, radio and television appearances, live performances, and interviews (with the Lady and her collaborators). Her complete recorded history, broadcast in highest audio clarity, with detailed annotation by our team of experts. Lady Day’s entire life story will be unfolded in sound. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |