Went to see 'Billy and me' on Friday at the
CSO. A celebration of Billy Holiday, directed
by Terri Lyne Carrington and performed by five fine vocalists: Rita Coolidge,
Niki Haris, Joan Osborne, Dianne Reeves and Rokia Traore. A little
multimedia-ish with a few short readings, photos and film segments. This part
didn't flow all that well as the 'acting MC', Rita Coolidge, completely
bombed that part. On the other hand, the vocal performances were all
outstanding. We went as we wanted to see Dianne Reeves another time after
a truly
breathtaking last concert a few years ago, and she did not
disappoint. However, the others vocalists were very fine too, and I should
check out some of their recordings. Musical arrangements, and performances,
were really good. Some pieces were a little 'funked up', in particular
I'll be seeing you in a world-music alike flavour with really nice
horns (Rob Smith, tp and ts; Tineke Postma, ts and ss) and rhythm section
(Paul Bollenback, g; Mitchel Forman, kb; James Genus, b; Munyungo Jacksone,
pc) and everything driven by Terri Lyne Carrington at the drums. All in all
a very nice concert.
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