Sunday, March 1, 2015, 7pm Zellerbach Hall

Cassandra Wilson r e g i l e S

k r a M Coming Forth by Day: A Tribute to Billie Holiday

with Kevin Breit, guitar John Davis, drums Charlie Burnham, violin Robby Marshall, tenor saxophone, clarinet & Jon Cowherd, piano. bass clarinet Lonnie Plaxico, bass Tonight’s program will be announced from the stage.

Jazz at Cal Performances is sponsored by Nadine Tang and Bruce Smith. Cal Performances’ – season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

CAL PERFORMANCES ABOUT THE ARTISTS

by Day: A Tribute to Billie Holiday . An other - worldly musical homage to legendary jazz vo - calist Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915) on the 100th anniversary of the singer’s birth, Coming Forth by Day is Cassandra Wilson’s moody, soulful new album showcase for contemporary yet time - less interpretations of standards associated with Lady Day. Coming Forth by Day was pro - duced by Nick Launay, known as Nick Cave’s producer for the last decade among many other adventurous credits. Ms. Wilson has drawn inspiration from ASSANDRA WILSON is an American jazz Billie Holiday for her entire life and chose the Cmusician, vocalist, songwriter, and pro - title as a way to honor the iconic singer: ducer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by “Coming Forth by Day” is a literal English critic Gary Giddins as “a singer blessed with translation of the title of an ancient text, an unmistakable timbre and attack who has commonly known as The Egyptian Book of expanded the playing field” by incorporating the Dead . The book is in actuality a Kemetic blues, country, and folk music into her work. collection of scriptures more accurately titled Ms. Wilson began playing piano at six, gui - The Book of Coming Forth by Day —prescrip - tar by age twelve, and was working as a vocal - tions intended to assist both the living and ist by the mid-1970s, singing a wide variety of deceased in their journey through life and material. After moving to New York City in the afterlife. the early 1980s, she met saxophonist Steve The album features eleven reinterpretations Coleman and became one of the founding of standards associated with Lady Day, plus an members of the M-Base Collective. original penned by Ms. Wilson—the dream - At the completion of her stint with M-Base, like new “Last Song (for Lester),” imagined as Ms. Wilson sought a more acoustic context for a heartbreaking final message from Billie to her vocal expression. She signed with Blue her musical love, Lester Young. (Upon receiv - Note Records in 1992 and released a landmark ing the news that Young had passed away, album, Blue Light ’Til Dawn , which would pave Billie flew straight from Europe to his funeral the way for a new generation of jazz singers but was denied the opportunity to sing by seeking an approach and repertoire that chal - Young’s family. She was distraught.) lenged the supremacy of the American Ms. Wilson recorded Coming Forth by Day Standard songbook. in Los Angeles at Seedy Underbelly studios Ms. Wilson has continued interpreting in with an A-list musical team, including pro - fresh and creative ways vintage blues, country, ducer Launay (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and folk music up to the present day. Her Arcade Fire), guitarists T-Bone Burnett and awards include two Grammy Awards, the Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, string Django d’Or, the Edison Music Award, and a arranger Van Dyke Parks, and rhythm section marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail. She also of the Bad Seeds (drummer Thomas Wydler performed one of the leading roles in Wynton and bassist Martyn P. Casey). Marsalis’s Blood on the Fields , the first jazz “A dream of mine is happening,” said composition to receive a Pulitzer Prize. Ms. Wilson. “I’ve been in love with Billie April 2015 brings us her tribute album for Holiday’s voice since the moment I heard it, and Billie Holiday’s 100th birthday, Coming Forth she has inspired me throughout my career.”

PLAYBILL