Because of You

Renowned Canadian multi-genre chanteuse Molly Johnson sixth studio album, "Because Of Billie", is a tribute to Billie Holiday. Recorded in Toronto with producers John Bailey and Mike Downes, Johnson wanted to infuse Because Of Billie with her idol’s spirit, preparing the songs emotionally and technically so many could be recorded in one take. Billie Holiday’s journey inspires Johnson not only as an artist, but as a model citizen. “Billie and her generation were the civil rights movement,” Johnson notes. “Her generation sacrificed for my privilege and I am honour-bound to them. I love history. I love to look back while pushing forward”.

Renowned Canadian multi-genre chanteuse Molly Johnson sixth studio album, "Because Of Billie", is a tribute to Billie Holiday. Recorded in Toronto with producers John Bailey and Mike Downes, Johnson wanted to infuse Because Of Billie with her idol’s spirit, preparing the songs emotionally and technically so many could be recorded in one take. Billie Holiday’s journey inspires Johnson not only as an artist, but as a model citizen. “Billie and her generation were the civil rights movement,” Johnson notes. “Her generation sacrificed for my privilege and I am honour-bound to them. I love history. I love to look back while pushing forward”.

One of the highest tributes to any musician in a recording session is that he or she is a “Take One” artist. Donna Hightower is just that, a singer who delivers perfectly the first time she steps to the mike. In these late Fifties sides she demonstrated the phrasing, taste and skill which marked her as one the brightest new vocalist stars of the time. Backing her are two all-star groups conducted by Sid Feller and featuring some of the greatest soloists of the New York jazz scene, including Joe Wilder, Ben Webster, Hank Jones, Georgie Auld, Mundell Lowe, George Duvivier and Don Lamond.

An easy-street, rather than ‘troubled’, Billie Holiday encountered here, in the Dee Dee Bridgewater mould, from Canadian singer Molly Johnson, backed by a small combo. Most of the songs you’d expect on a Holiday songbook album are included, Because of Billie bookended by ‘Body and Soul’, and ‘Don’t Explain’, yet more unexpectedly, given the possibilities, ‘Now or Never’ really suits the Juno-winning singer, in a lively version with its raucous “straighten up and fly right” atmosphere suggesting Kansas City and jump jive styles.