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The musical legacies of two of the 20th century’s greatest vocalists will be celebrated in St. Boniface this weekend. The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra is preparing to present an evening of music by Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald at Le Patio 340.
An ensemble version of the orchestra will be assisted in sharing the music of both icons by two talented Winnipeg vocalists: Grace Hrabi and Monica Jones. For Jones, who will be performing as Billie Holliday, the concert is less about imitating the musicians and more about celebrating their ethos.
“What grabbed me about Billie is just her emotive qualities,” says Jones. “When she’s singing, she could really just get to a deep, emotional place in her music and that really spoke to me. But then, she also some very light fun songs to quick wit, and she was very influenced by Louis Armstrong, so she kind of sings like an instrumentalist.”
Hrabi notices that although the two performers had vastly different careers, she also notices Louis Armstrong’s influence in the pieces that she will be performing as Ella Fitzgerald. “These two singers actually do have a very similar background,” she says. I think that trying to find the similarities in some of their music is something that we were looking at. There [are] a couple of pieces we’re doing together and trying to bring aspects of the two singers together.”
In planning this concert, Hrabi and Jones picked pieces from Fitzgerald’s and Holliday’s respective canons that would compliment each other in the concert’s program. Along with the ensemble consisting of trumpeter Richard Gillis, guitarist Jesse Popeski, bassist Gilles Fournier and drummer Allan Suban, the duo have worked to take the big band arrangements that were such a big part of Holliday’s and Fitzgerald’s careers and make them into more intimate settings that fit the vibes of Le Patio 340.
“It’s going to be a really lovely evening,” smiles Jones. “It’s a nice outdoor venue underneath the trees, they have twinkly lights... getting into the vibe of 1940’s, 1950’s style of jazz.”
Hrabi adds that a venue like this can make jazz feel less intimidating for a casual listener. “I think performing something like this at a more casual venue like patio does maybe engage a different group from the music community who are just interested to go have a drink... they’ll just see what’s happening. Hopefully, we’ll get some new fans and so will Ella and Billie.”
The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra’s Billie & Ella concert takes place at 7 p.m. on August 17 at Le Patio 340. Tickets and more information are available at the orchestra’s website.
