The Royal Room is All Ages until 10pm.
Iconoclastic performer, songwriter, and civil rights icon, Billie Holiday emerged from the nascent jazz scene of 1920s Baltimore to leave an incredible and complicated legacy that reimagined the style and role that Black female performers would play for generations. Born Eleanora Fagan Gough, Holiday made the transition from singing along with the records of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong to singing for tips in back-street Harlem clubs as a young woman. Holiday’s untrained, and therefore radically unique vocal style, came into prominence just as the Harlem Renaissance began to fuel the nationwide swing era. Holiday was one of the first performers to rely heavily on the use of microphones, allowing her to convey an intimacy with large audiences previously not possible.
On January 15, South Hudson Music Project will present “Painting the Town Red: A MLK Day Tribute to Billie Holiday” at The Royal Room. Listeners can expect selections from Holiday’s illustrious career, in a fitting celebration of both Holiday’s life and work, and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
