4 Chicago Tribune | Arts+Entertainment | Section 4 | Wednesday, April 8, 2015 Holiday at 100: Lady has her day

Reich, from Page 1

“,” complete with exquisitely pol- ished scat singing that justly earned ovations before the tune was finished. The unhurried tempo and sweeping lines Grimm mined in “Crazy He Calls Me”were similarly effec- tive. Imagine the art of Holiday filtered through the sensibility of the great Doris Day,and you have a sense of where Grimm was coming from. And then there was Lynne Jordan, who dared to take on the toughest song in Holiday’s rep- ertoire, “.” This eyes-wide-open portrait of lynching is devastating to hear under any circumstances, but BRIAN CASSELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE PHOTOS Jordan went a step further, of- Lynne Jordan performs Monday at Davenport’s. She took on ’s dark “Strange Fruit,” which confronts the terrible subject of lynching. fering a shattering spoken solilo- quy about her own family’s link to this terrible subject. Jordan wasn’t the only one whose eyes and cheeks were wet before she had begun to sing a note. Yet she pulled herself together to deliver the song, which started big, got bigger and culminated in a kind of outcry. Each singer, really, had some- thing distinctive to add to what we know and value in Holiday’s oeuvre. Tecora Rogers addressed “Pennies From Heaven” in the manner of a robust blues shouter and made a hyperdramatic aria of “Easy Living.” Liz Mandeville summoned considerable inten- sity in “,” Liz Mandeville sings at Monday’s show, which featured jazz, blues and Tecora Rogers salutes Holiday on Monday. Vocalists drew inspiration though she teetered dangerously cabaret artists. The tribute concert will repeat June 12 in Skokie. from “Lady Day,” whose 100th birthday would have been Tuesday. close to camp in an overwrought version of “Lover Man.” Each singer had shortcomings, Holiday’s his affinity for Holiday’s world. eyelashes so long they went out By sharp contrast, Jeannie late-1950s readings of songs such Pianist Jason Moranmakes to there. Tanner could not have sounded something distinc- as “One for My Baby (And One matters interesting with various “I was not used to sharing a more sophisticated in her phras- More for the Road)” and “Body counter-motifs, joined by bassist room with another girl, and ing or nuanced in her vocals in tive to add to what and Soul” expressed pain and John Patitucciand drummer when the girls in the show told “Body and Soul.”That she made yearning with equal rawness and Eric Harland. me my roommate was a lesbian, her own tune, “Promise Me the we know and value eloquence. Ididn’t know what that meant.” Moon,”sound like an established Cassandra Wilson, a superb Farewell, Julie Wilson Wilson soon learned a great standard and played trumpet in Holiday’s oeuvre. singer whose musical lineage deal, particularly in Chicago, with comparable lyricism at- surely draws from Holiday and The last time I heard cabaret where she performed regularly tested to her uncommon versa- Abbey Lincoln, has released a diva Julie Wilson, who died through the decades and played tility as a Chicago jazz musician. releases worthy of attention. welcome homage in “Coming Sundayin Manhattan at age 90, all through the night. Kimberly Gordon clearly has “Billie Holiday: The Centen- Forth by Day” (Sony Legacy). she was shaking up the Empire “Take the Latin Quarter — been practicing, showing polish nial Collection” (Columbia/ As always, Wilson’s husky, evoc- Room at the Palmer House Hil- that was a real nightclub,” Wil- and craft in “What a Little Legacy)gives listeners an intro- ative vocals are swathed in richly ton during the 2003 Chicago son recalled, referring to the Moonlight Can Do” and, espe- duction to the singer’s work on a atmospheric instrumental set- Cabaret Convention. “Hard- Loop nightspot. “You had to cially, “.”And single CD, spanning 1935 to 1944. tings that underscore the es- Hearted Hannah” never sound- walk up this huge staircase to get Amy Armstrong broke your This is mostly classic Holiday, sence of the songs. Who else ed harder, and “Don’t Ask a in, and along the walls you’d see heart in the bridge to “Don’t the singer taking dance-band could bring such vibrant, South- Lady”brimmed over with lusty these huge blowups of the show- Explain,”the bloom of her sound tempos in tunes such as “What a ern blues context to “Don’t Ex- anticipation. girls inside. They had three something to savor. Little Moonlight Can Do” and plain,”Wilson’s incantatory That’s what Wilson always shows a night, at 8, midnight Strangely, though, some of “These Foolish Things.” Even phrases enveloped by soaring was like: ferocious, unstoppable, (and) 2:30. The money flowed, these singers opened with ex- within the confines of a pulsing guitar lines and radiant saxo- wise to the world. Having grown the booze flowed. tended monologues suggesting backbeat and orchestral flour- phone solos? Who else could up poor in Omaha, Neb., and “After working there all night, they believed they also could do ishes, Holiday sounds like no one float a melody line so delicately having endured three marriages we’d go over to the Singapore on stand-up comedy. They cannot. else on Earth, the sighing over a transparent orchestral that she told me she considered Rush Street for spare ribs, and All of this was beautifully phrases, imploring high notes setting in “What a Little Moon- “pitiful mistakes,” Wilson knew then maybe we’d go to some directed by Daryl Nitz, who and penetrating tone dominat- light Can Do”? Or express Holi- alot about life and brought every strip joint where you could see dedicated the evening to the late ing. The album offers a few day’s deep-rooted feelings for drop of it to the stage. She always Carrie Finnell gyrate. cabaret icon Julie Wilson (more glimpses of darkness, as in the saxophonist Lester Young in an wore a gardenia in her hair in “And there were jazz joints — on her below) and chose his cast crying lines of “Gloomy Sunday” original, otherworldly com- homage to the singer she consid- the Blue Note,where you could well, including the band. Cabaret and, of course, the harrowing position, Wilson’s “Last Song ered her greatest influence, hear someone great any and pianist Johnny Rodgerscan play strains of “Strange Fruit.” (For Lester)”? By any measure, a another artist who knew a few every night of the week. That’s just about anything; bassist Jim For those who would like to musical tour de force. things: Billie Holiday. how it was.” Coxknows how to listen to get a fuller look at Holiday’s Finally, singer Jose James has Wilson got her first break in And Wilson helped make it so. singers; and saxophonist-clari- contributions, there are more fashioned an utterly disarming 1942, playing the road-show netist Eric Schneider referenced riches to be found in a boxed set homage, “Yesterday I Had the version of “Earl Carroll’s Van- “Portraits in Jazz”: Howard Holiday’s profound musical released years ago, “The Com- Blues: The Music of Billie ities,” in which barely clad wom- Reich’s e-book collects his exclu- relationship with Lester Young. plete Billie Holiday on Verve, Holiday” (Blue Note Records). en cavorted onstage in practi- sive interviews with Frank Si- “Ladies Sing the Blues: A 1945-1959” (Verve). On these 10 This slow-burn take on Holiday cally every town between natra,Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday Centennial Birth- CDs,we hear the artist Holiday standards offers a less-is-more Omaha and New York. Ella Fitzgerald and others, as well day Celebration” plays at 8 p.m. became, plumbing more deeply approach, James understating “It was my first big-time job in as profiles of early masters such June 12 at the Skokie Theatre, into the meaning and subtext of his case in songs such as “Good show business, and I was not as ,Duke Elling- 7924 N. Lincoln Ave.,Skokie; asong than any female jazz Morning Heartache” and “Fine prepared for all the bickering ton and Billie Holiday.Get “Por- $28-$32; 847-677-7761or skokie singer had done before. Conven- and Mellow.” The directness of and swearing backstage, the traits in Jazz” at chicagotribune theatre.com. tional wisdom holds that Holi- expression he brings to “Body vulgarity of it all,” Wilson told .com/ebooks. The world of recordings, too, day’s battered voice rendered and Soul” and the intimacy and me in 1994. “I was not used to is paying tribute to the Holiday her late recordings inferior, but fervent blues phrase-making he wearing white makeup so thick [email protected] centennial, with several major the reverse is true. Despite vocal offers on “Lover Man” speak to that it went out to here and fake Twitter @howardreich