Billie Holiday Listening Party - The 92nd Street Y, New York
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Billie Holiday: Reaching for the Moon—An Exploration and Celebration

Billie Holiday Listening Party

Billie Holiday Listening Party

WBGO’s Rhonda Hamilton hosts a free listening party sharing and exploring Billie Holiday’s most essential recordings.

Join us as Rhonda Hamilton from WBGO—the jazz mecca The New York Times called “arguably the best jazz station in the world”— leads listeners through seminal Holiday tracks, from her early 1930s Brunswick recordings through the album many consider her masterpiece, 1959’s Lady in Satin. Reflections on Billie’s key collaborators—Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and others—accompany insights into one of the most extraordinary discographies in music. Free with registration.

This event is part of Billie Holiday: Reaching for the Moon—An Exploration and Celebration

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This program is part of the Gilda and Henry Block School of Music.
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Rhonda Hamilton

Rhonda Hamilton

Rhonda Hamilton is an internationally known radio broadcaster with extensive experience producing and hosting jazz programs …

Rhonda Hamilton

Rhonda Hamilton

Rhonda Hamilton is an internationally known radio broadcaster with extensive experience producing and hosting jazz programs as well as decades of experience as a voice-over artist.

In a career that spans more than forty years Ms. Hamilton has established herself as the voice of jazz. Now living in Southern California, she currently hosts a weekday show which airs across the US and Canada on the SiriusXM Real Jazz Channel 67, 9 AM to 3 pm ET/6 AM to noon PT. She also hosts The Sunday Spotlight which airs on WBGO, Jazz 88.3 FM and wbgo.org Sundays from 2 to 4 pm ET.

Born and raised in New York, as a child Rhonda grew up listening to the sounds of Duke Ellington, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole and other jazz greats included in her father’s record collection. In her teenage years she broadened her scope and she began amassing a collection of her own. While attending Boston University’s College of Communication, Ms. Hamilton began her career in radio in 1975 as a jazz announcer/producer at WBUR-FM eventually becoming the station’s music director.

Returning to the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area in March 1979, Rhonda became a key member of the team that founded WBGO and played a major role in making Jazz 88.3 FM one of the finest and most listened to jazz radio stations in the world. During her years at WBGO Ms. Hamilton conducted hundreds of interviews with world class jazz artists and celebrities, produced and voiced documentaries and hosted numerous events at premier venues throughout New York and New Jersey. She also hosted and co-led station sponsored trips to international destinations including Brazil, Cuba, Montreal and South Africa.

Ms. Hamilton’s association with NPR began in 1980. She has been the voice of numerous nationally syndicated programs including NPR’s annual New Year’s Eve broadcast, Toast of the Nation-Coast to Coast” “azzSet (as the designated fill-in host for Dee Dee Bridgewater), Big Apple Jazz, American Women in Jazz, and The Voices of Jazz which she also co-produced.

In 2001 Ms. Hamilton helped to inaugurate the jazz programming on Sirius Satellite Radio as the host of a daily show. After the merger with XM Satellite Radio, her affiliation continued until 2009 and began again in 2016. Between 2005 and 2010 Rhonda engaged with jazz fans in Japan as the host of a program called Nissan Murano Crossover Style which aired monthly on Inter-FM, Tokyo.

Ms. Hamilton’s on-camera experience includes work as a music reviewer and commentator on the public affairs program Mzizi Roots on WBZ-TV, Boston, MA. On WNYC-TV, New York, NY she hosted a series of 36 programs called Brazil/New York that explored various aspects of Brazilian culture – music, dance, film, food, religion, etc. Actress Sonia Braga, director Hector Babenco, musicians Eliane Elias and Carlos Barbosa-Lima were among the guests.

Ms. Hamilton’s dedication as a jazz broadcaster has earned her many honors including the Jazz Journalists Association Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Excellence in Broadcasting Award, the Ladies in Jazz Award from the Mayor of NYC and the Harlem Chamber of Commerce, The Amazing Woman in Jazz Award from International Women in Jazz and two consecutive New York Jazz Awards for Best Jazz DJ “in appreciation of a major contribution to the cultural life of our region.”

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Please note that all 92Y regularly scheduled in-person programs are suspended.