Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald's Love Child

Finally, this year, I was able to attend the Billie Holiday vocal competition. This has been going for about 18 years in Baltimore to celebrate the incredible talent of Lady Day. While she was not born in Baltimore, Maryland lays claim to her. So every year a group of talented people compete to claim the honor of being the winner. This year the contest was amazing and every contestant was wonderful to hear. Personally, I think the winner, Tia Dae, was so amazing she had the contest won after her first song. I haven't found a good website or video to showcase her amazing voice....

But, I did find the website for last year's winner, Sharon Clark. This woman is amazing. If Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald had a love child, Ms. Clarks is what you would get (besides creepy thoughts you shouldn't have for two icons of jazz). Ms. Clark sang at this competition while the organizers were counting up the judges ballots. Here's a link to her website:

http://www.chrisgrassomusic.com/sharon_clark/index.htm

Make sure you click on the videos to hear her sing. She will be performing in DC, and I'm going to try to make it to one of her shows here soon. I'm glad there are people out there keeping jazz alive.