Women's history soundtracks
It's Women's History Month, and two compelling themed concerts are hitting the Bay Area this weekend that promise to be as tuneful as informative. Here's a look.
“Bessie, Billie, and Nina”:
This touring show, subtitled “Pioneering Women of Jazz,” focuses on the music, careers and legacies of Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith and Nina Simone, three Black singers who changed the course of American music with their careers from the Jim Crow era and turbulent '60s.
The show is produced by Grammy winner Eli Wolf and stars singers Charenée Wade, Tahira Clayton and Vanisha Gould, backed by an all-woman band. Attendees will hear such classics as Bessie Smith's “Downhearted Blues,” Billie Holiday's “Strange Fruit” and Nina Simone's “Mississippi Goddamn.”
Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $20-$80; livermorearts.org.
Helen Sung: The Texasborn pianist and composer was headed for a career in classical music until she attended a Harry Connick Jr. concert and decided jazz was for her. The move paid off, as Sung has won several jazz piano competitions and won the praises of such luminaries as Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Wynton Marsalis among others.
She lands at two Bay Area venues this weekend to showcase her raved-about 2021 release “Quartet+” as well as perform works by such noted female jazz composers as Geri Allen, Mary Lou Williams, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Carla Bley and Marian McPartland.
Details: 7 and 8:30 p.m. Friday at SFJazz Center, San Francisco; $30; www.sfjazz. org; 7 p.m. Saturday at Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose (part of the venue's Black Cab Jazz series); $25-$35; hammertheatre.com.