I made my Carnegie Hall debut in Broadway Artists Sing the Songs of Billie Holiday, an evening of songs made famous by the great Lady Day. I sang All of Me, He’s Funny That Way, and one other I can’t remeber. Also on the bill were Lea Delaria, Rebecca Luker, Oleta Adams, Tom Wopat and Jimmy Scott. The Terence Blanchard quintet accompanied us all and were utterly brilliant.

Fun fact: WhenI went for rehearsal the band started playing the intro, Terence gave me the nod to start singing and I had no idea of even which song they were playing! I had a massive crash course in jazz over those few days and thanks only to Terence’s patience and kindness just managed to get through it all.