Corky Hale to Present Birthday Tribute to Billie Holiday at Catalina Jazz Club

Acclaimed Jazz harpist-pianist-vocalist Corky Hale will present a 102nd Birthday Show honoring Billie Holiday on Thursday, April 6 at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. Hale is one of the few people still performing who was actually a close friend of Holiday's, playing for her on the "Stars of Jazz" TV show, and on several recordings and live appearances.

Special guests will include singers Freda Payne, Eloise Laws and Tricia Tahara, with Hale on piano and harp, Lyman Medeiros on bass, John Chiodini on Guitar and Gene Coye on drums. Holiday, who was born on April 7, 1915 and died in 1959, was one of the most important and influential jazz legends of all time.

Corky Hale has performed at the White House with Tony Bennett, soloed with Barbra Streisand at the Hollywood Bowl and Central Park, with Bjork on her London MTV special, and with George Michael at Royal Albert Hall. She has also played and/or recorded with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, June Christy, Anita O'Day, Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, Judy Collins, Mel Torme, Chet Baker, Joe Williams, Benny Carter, and numerous others and is generally considered the most accomplished jazz harpist in the world. She also made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2007 as piano soloist with the New York Pops Orchestra and was among the stars at the 2011 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center.

Freda Payne and Eloise Laws have had long successful careers in both the jazz and pop worlds and Tricia Tahara is among the most exciting of the new upcoming recording stars.

Hale and her husband of 45 years, legendary songwriter Mike Stoller, were among those attending the 50th anniversary commemorations in Selma and Montgomery, AL, where the Mike and Corky Hale Stoller Civil Rights Memorial Theater was recently named in their honor. The couple were also honored for their lifetime achievement by the California Jazz Foundation.