By JAE CHOI | September 29, 2020  

The Billie Holiday Project for Liberation Arts (BHPLA) and Hopkins at Home hosted “Baltimore’s Billie Holiday: A Musical Tribute to Lady Day” on Saturday, Sept. 19. The online concert honored the Baltimore native legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday. Though BHPLA hosted its inaugural tribute concert in West Baltimore’s Lafayette Square last year, this year’s concert was adapted to an online format as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

When I set aside an hour on a busy Saturday afternoon to watch the concert on my widescreen monitor, I wasn’t sure what to expect. This was my first ever live online concert. One thing I was initially afraid of was that I would feel disconnected from the performance and that this experience wouldn’t be too different from what I would get just watching a music video on YouTube. But having been a fan of Holiday’s music for a long time, I decided to go and see for myself what a live online concert was like.

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Lawrence Jackson, the founder and director of BHPLA, welcomed the audience and gave opening remarks that connected Saturday’s tribute jazz concert to the broader task of fostering a more unified and inclusive Baltimore.

“Obviously we’re not in Lafayette Square this year, but next year we will be back. I can guarantee it,” he said.

“It’s very important for us to make sure that [this is] a free, public concert that is available to everyone, and that it creates the Baltimore we dream of, the one that perhaps never has happened so far but is one that if we work hard enough and join forces, we can bring about,” Jackson said.

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