Popular Ottawa vocalists Karen Oxorn, Dominique Forest, and Nicole Ratté present a tribute concert celebrating the careers of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, two incomparable jazz artists.  Through the veil of a brief snapshot in time when Ella and Billie played consecutive dates at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, the concert repertoire offers selections from the live recording that was released the following year.

Both Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday suffered difficult beginnings but overcame them to establish successful singing careers in the early 1930s that continued to thrive in the 1940s, 50s and beyond. Their interpretations of the popular songs of the era and the paths taken in their personal lives were vastly different.

The concert will feature jazz standards from the live album by well-known songwriters including George and Ira Gershwin; Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields; Rodgers and Hart; Vernon Duke and Yip Harburg; Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, and Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton and Johnny Mercer. The performers will share a few personal favourites not included on the live recording but which have been indelibly marked with Ella and Billie’s signature styles.

Karen, Dominique and Nicole will also pay tribute to the late Jacques Emond, founding artistic director of the Ottawa Jazz Festival and long-time radio host. Jacques did much to encourage and support the careers of these three vocalists as well as many other Ottawa-Gatineau performers.  Accompanying the vocalists are five wonderful Ottawa-based instrumentalists: Mark Ferguson, Musical Director, on piano and trombone; Jeff Asselin on drums; Tim Bedner on guitar; Normand Glaude on double bass; and Mike Tremblay on tenor saxophone.

Karen Oxorn : www.karenoxorn.com

Dominique Forest : www.dominiqueforest.ca

Nicole Ratté : www.nicoleratte.com and www.ateliersjazzvocal.com