Cassandra Wilson at Ridgefield Playhouse

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Coming Forth By Day: A Celebration of Billie Holiday

Cassandra Wilson, perhaps the greatest living jazz singer, comes to the Carolina Theatre to offer a special tribute concert to Billie Holiday on the centennial of Lady Day’s birth. Wilson has the goods to honor Holiday: TIME magazine recognized her as “America’s best singer” and “the true heir of Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan.”

The New York Times noted approvingly that Wilson possesses “a contralto as rich and as supple as vintage leather,” with a distinctive “earthy majesty.” The BBC went further in describing her spectacular voice: “husky yet smooth, like sand mixed with honey, it’s sophisticated, wise, and sexy all at the same time, and seems to plug right in to the history of black American music.”