A CELEBRATION WITH HOLIDAY SPIRIT

A few magical moments capped “A Celebration for Billie Holiday,” a high-spirited benefit performance featuring 25 jazz and pop music artists Sunday at the Vine St. Bar & Grill to raise funds to pay for Holiday’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The evening began ideally when the magnificent pianist Jimmy Rowles delivered a brief, unaccompanied “No More,” full of floating, probing chords set against sparkling notes of melody. He then sang “Miss Brown to You,” his oozing, hoarse whisper and perfect sense of time capturing the essence of Holiday’s rendition of this tune. Later, Rowles returned to provide Carmen McRae with a sumptuous, cushioned background for “Some Other Spring,” which she sang with her customary mixture of flawless musicianship and sublime jazz feeling.

Other tunes recorded and/or composed by Holiday were aired. Marlena Shaw, purposely dragging and rushing her phrasing, was reminiscent of McRae on a powerful medium-up version of “Them There Eyes,” while Ella Mae Morse employed a wide vibrato in a quietly determined “God Bless the Child.” Lorraine Feather and Charlotte Crossley happily bounced their way through “My Mother’s Son-in-Law,” which Holiday recorded as “Your Mother’s Son-in-Law.”

Ernie Andrews and Jimmy Witherspoon wailed on a few blues, while guitarist Herb Ellis, working with Dave Frishberg, piano, Bob Maize, bass, and Dick Berk, Holiday’s last drummer, soared splendidly through Cole Porter’s “I Love You,” the evening’s only extended instrumental feature.

Several guests reminisced about Holiday and the documentary short, “God Bless the Child,” was shown.

The one-night-only event reportedly raised the $3,000 needed to pay for Holiday’s star, scheduled to be installed on her birthday, April 7, when she would have have been 71.