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Alvin Hall

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Queens of Jazz: The Joy and Pain of the Jazz Divas

BBC Radio 4

May 2013

Queens of Jazz is a celebration of some of the greatest female jazz singers of the 20th century. It takes an unflinching and revealing look at what it actually took to be a jazz diva during a turbulent time in America’s social history – a time when battle lines were being constantly drawn around issues of race, gender and popular culture.

Contributors to the program include singers Annie Ross, Lisa Stansfield, Melody Gardot, Diana Krall, Madeleine Peroux, Claire Martin, Barb Jungr, Carleen Anderson, Tina May, Gregory Porter; Big Band veterans Bucky Pizzarelli, Bob Dorough; critics Gary Giddins, Dave Gelly, Alvin Hall, Loren Schoenberg, Holly Foster Wells, George Wein and Michael Bourne.

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