Celebrating the work of the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald, three of Chicago’s premiere vocalists, DEE ALEXANDER, FRIEDA LEE, and SPIDER SALOFF pay tribute to Ella’s music. Of these three singers, Howard Reich has written, “jazz singing is a profoundly sensual art, at least when Dee Alexander, Frieda Lee and Spider Saloff are standing before the microphones. These vocalists revel in the voluptuousness of their sound, its lush tones, its breathy phrases, it’s palpable ardor. Yes, the words remain important to these artists, but it’s the lustrous beauty of their lines that ultimately sell the song.”
DEE was voted best singer of 2009 by Chicago Magazine. Her talents span every music genre, but it is through her seemingly effortless and powerful jazz performances that she is known, both locally and internationally. Her recent CD, Wild Is the Wind received a five-star rating from Downbeat. The Chicago Reader has called her “a true diva . . . with an innate theatricality and enough pure musicality to overwhelm most of the instrumentalists with whom she shares the stage.” FRIEDA has toured with the late, great Joe Williams and Kevin Mahogany, as well as the CJO. Frieda has embraced the vocal styles of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nancy Wilson, and the legacy of composers Gershwin, Porter, Kern, and Ellington. Her performances are a virtual excursion through the great American musical repertoire of adult contemporary music and mainstream jazz. Of SPIDER, Johnny Mandel says, “She’s incredibly musical, a great performer, and marvelous songwriter” and the NY Times has written that she has a “wicked way with a lyric and a glint of well-controlled mischief.” Spider is currently performing in her one-woman show, The Roar of the Butterfly, for which she has written nine songs and plays eight characters. These three Ellas are accompanied by JEREMY KAHN, piano; JIM COX, bass; and CHARLES HEATH, drums.
