Ann Hampton Callaway and Billy Stritch Linda Ronstadt Show at Birdland

It's Eugene Ebner with Broadway World TV with the goddess of jazz, Anne Hampton-Kellaway

How are you Anne? I'm so excited to be here, opening night. Yes

Thanks for stopping by. Well, thanks for spending some time with us. We really love you

We're thrilled to be here. Of course, adore your voice. Now, why Linda Ronstadt

Why is it special to you to be able to sing from her song book? You know, there are many reasons

First of all, she's one of the foremost women of music of the 20th century

Her impact was extraordinary. One of the things I most admire about her besides her beautiful voice and her fabulous songbook

is the fact that she always honored the many sides to her

the many types of music she was drawn to, the many experiences. And when her producer said, oh, no, I don't think you should do standards, she did standards

And it became a big success. Every time she did something that she felt called to do, she made a big difference

And when I was getting started as a singer in New York

and I heard those Nelson Riddle records coming out one by one

I just thought, what a great thing to do. I love this woman, because she's bringing the music I love

to a whole new generation of music lovers. And it's still that sense, the bridge between rock and roll

and the great American songbook is a bridge that needs to be crossed more often

So I sort of wanted to cross the bridge from the Great American Songbook to some of the pop side of me

that as a young kid wanting to be a singer-songwriter, expecting a different life than what I ultimately had

this gets me a chance to sort of rock out. When I was an acting major at the University of Illinois, whatever chance I get

we would go to these little sessions, jam sessions, with our guitars and sing

and James Taylor and Carole King and Linda Ronstadt. And I just really love this music

And so it's nice for me to dare to step out of my usual comfort zone

and go to a part that's a little older part of my early self

that is still a very important part of me. So this has been a fantastic experience

Another very important reason that I wanted to do this was it just breaks my heart that such a great singer

and such a beautiful person has been silenced by Parkinson's. I agree. I was with Laurie White when we heard the news about Linda

and so I was in Nashville with her, and we immediately set up a little gig at

was it the Blue Bonnet, the Blue Bell Cafe? Anyway, a bunch of us got together

and we did a big tribute to Linda that night, and so it's always sort of haunted me to honor her

And plus, my wife, being from Tucson, is a huge fan of Linda Rodstadt's music

And there's something about just having moved to Tucson that makes me feel this beautiful sense of symmetry

and synchronicity. And I had a vocal ulceration a year ago, actually almost to this day after singing at Birdland when it was so cold and I was so sick and I thought I couldn talk for two months just when I had decided to do the show

And I thought, how interesting that I am almost stepping into the experience, not quite

but stepping into the experience of, will I ever sing again? How does that feel? Who am I without singing

So I feel like this has been a tremendous gift on many levels to me

and I've been so fortunate to get to know her online and we've exchanged some messages with each other

and she's given me her blessing to do the show. I hope I have a chance to give her a little extra love

because she deserves it. She's made such a difference to all of us

I agree with you and I love the fact that you said you're making it your own

It's important to you for many reasons. You're putting your own spin around it

because you normally do a lot of jazz but you also sing pop. And I think it's so, in a way, exciting when you can offer this to people

All ages of people. Right, right. Because it brings the attention back to the music

And as Billy and I were discussing, especially for the baby boomers, this is like, wow, that's my music

Well, and people who are used to hearing me sing Lush Life and other things, even though Linda did sing Lush Life

when they come to the show and they have the history of loving Linda Rostap

they just turn into 16 year olds. I just love seeing the audience just bopping and singing along and clapping and they're so..

I've never had this kind of audience response. But the other context of all of this is, as a sort of a response for the last 10 years to the big voice shows, The Voice, and American Idol and things like that

I've really wanted to focus my attention as a storyteller to great artistry, to people who've made a strong impact

impact. So I've done the Ella Fitzgerald songbook, I've done the Sarah Vaughan songbook, you

know, different titles, but the Streisand songbook, I did a tribute to Peggy Lee, and

Linda Rostad seems like a perfect next step of somebody who has bridged many different

kinds of music. And I'm interested in the bridge building that we can do in this world

right now. I think that's imperative. High five. Yeah, talk about love

I love this. I'm seeing this. See, yeah. And this is what it's about

That's right. It's, you're taking your talent, your name of who you are, your experience, your wisdom

your love, and you're honoring her. You're honoring yourself, and you're being able to unite people through that

Yeah. And thank you for what you said earlier. You're honoring her because now you, like you said, you know what it would feel like

to say, God, what is my voice? Yes, right. The instrument. So I applaud you for that and I thank you for that because it's really what it's about now, especially, is, I call them us light workers

I don't know if people think that's too airy-fairy, but to me, you're spreading light and love

I have a personal secret ministry I think music is a tremendous soul soul unifying power And besides being tremendously exciting and fun and sexy and all those great things

it's the one thing that brings people together. And then this kind of show brings people who don't know they like rock

and who don't know they like jazz, and don't know they like country, and they don't know they like these things

But when you have a storytelling, fun evening of music that comes from the heart, it's bound to touch people

And the result of my few times I've gotten to do this show has been very, very exciting

Well, we're very excited. And please, anyone that's watching this right now, check Anne out here at Birdland

Ten shows this entire week from Tuesday the 22nd through Saturday the 26th

Two shows a day. Yes, 8.30 and 11 o'clock each night. And then we have Bob Mann who was Linda's guitarist and arranger on guitar

And he was on two of the three Nelson Riddle records. And he played and arranged the amazing track for Linda and James Ingram on Somewhere Out There

That I'm singing with Bill every night, which is one of the highlights of the show. And his artistry is just off the charts

He's just a great guitarist and a beautiful man. Well, thanks for spreading the love and honoring Linda and continuing to inspire all of us

of us not only with your beautiful voice but your heart well thank you thank you so much thank you

linda we love you thank you i'm sitting here with the one and only billy stretch look at who i am

what is it about this show that's really unique and special we love linda ronstadt

of course we love linda ronstadt and i love ann hampton calloway and everybody does and i've known

And I want to say 30 years I've known her. And I've known her from back when she was playing piano bar

And then she made her stand-up appearance. And just everything she's done

And she does all these wonderful tributes to more pop and jazz artists. You know, Barbara Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, different people

But to hear her do this music, Linda Ronstadt, which is not normally what you'd associate with Ann

it's amazing because she's such a gifted singer and musician that she's able to put her own stamp

and yet be very respectful of the original music. She has utmost respect for Linda, as she'll tell you

And it's just a great collection of songs. People don't necessarily think of things from the 60s, 70s

and up beyond as being as great as the songs from the Great American Songbook

but there's quite a few in this that really fill that bill. And so many people relate to them

Yeah, I feel like that's the, that's for people that are my age, that's kind of like the music we grew up on

You know, I mean, in the 70s in the car, there was always Linda Ronstadt hit on the radio

I have always loved her I was born in the early 70s but my sister at the time was about 16 when I was born Sure So you heard all the music She had all of her records Sure absolutely Yeah I mean so it really like iron of soldier now you know

That's true. Yeah. For you, though, as a music director and accompanist and piano man

what is it for you with this songbook, with Linda Ronstadt's songs

How is it different for you? Well, it's really been great fun to play it because, you know

when I was 15 and 16 and early to late teens, I played in bands, and we played a lot of this music, you know, and of course, listening to the radio, but, you know, so when Ann presented this to me, and we got together the first day, I was like, I remember this, I remember this, and it was all like it was in my hands, because, you know, it was just so embedded in my brain. Right

You know, so it's different in that it's not old standard, it's not jazz

But I love, I'm from Texas, so I love country, I love country rock, I love pump, all that stuff

So all of that is something I'm able to really bring to the show, you know, all those different styles

I think it's like you said, it's almost the nostalgia of it, but the memory of it, but

in a different way. The standards can be maybe nostalgia for anyone

Of course. Because of the time period, but this is something like you said for maybe the baby boomers

That's what they really relate to the most. That's what I'm thinking. I mean, you know, our parents it was like the music of the 30s, 40s, 50s, you know

But like now it's 60s, 70s, 80s, you know, that's the new thing. That's the new big

Nostalgic baby boomer kind of not baby, you know, you know what I mean. Right. What I'm trying to say. I do

What's one of your favorite songs if you had to pick one? In this show, I love Long Long Time

It was one of her first ones with Stone Pony. I have heard that one. I have such a sense of memory of hearing that song on a

transistor radio when I was seven, maybe came out 69, I think. And

it just had such a lonesome sound, you know, and I lived in a small town. I remember listening to it. It was like I was up way past my bedtime and hearing it on this thing

And I just I just remember that it's not a very interesting memory

But it's a song that has stuck with me forever and I love all the stuff that she like it's so easy and

That's one of my favorite you know and ooh, baby, baby all the smoky Robinson things

You know I'm gonna Chris the Nelson Riddle stuff So we do get a little bit of those great American standards in the show too

We acknowledge that as well. Well, I'm really glad that you spend some time with us today

I get to sing a little on the show Ooh, and we love when you sing now. I get to sing two songs with that. See folks

Folks, you have to realize that Billy also sings. I've heard him with Jim Caruso

Yes, true. I warble a little bit, yeah. It's always a pleasure

I mean, I love accompanying singers, but it's always a treat when the singer actually invites me to sing along, too

This is awesome. So this is the Ann slash Billy show. Well, no, it's the Ann show

Sorry, Ann. With musical director Billy Stritch. Right, exactly. That's all we have to say about that

All right. Well, thanks for spending time. Pleasure. We can't wait. Good, me either