"Kathleen Willison is an amazingly gifted young singer. At times, she puts me in mind of the young Norma Winstone. As if that were not enough, she can write songs that sound like songs" 23/01/2005 Dave Gelly, The Observer

An Evening with Billie and Ella is brought to you by Kathleen Willison (vocals), Tim Whitehead (tenor sax), Gwilym Simcock (piano). Every jazz singer would admit to being highly influenced by these two singers. Both from difficult backgrounds and one with the most tragic of lives, they sang from the heart, and have touched the hearts of millions. In this show the trio will introduce some lesser-known material from their repertoire, but will also delight the audience with their original, contemporary arrangements of jazz standards made famous by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

"One of the personal highlights for me was the Evening with Billie and Ella event at Plungar Village Hall. I had gone along expecting an enjoyable but easy listening musical performance. What we were treated to was a superb, at times challenging, performance from three superb musicians who worked well with a truly enthusiastic audience. A great night and everything rural touring should be." Mick Fattorini, Leicestershire County Council

Kathleen Willison is one of a new generation of exciting young singers. In 2000, she graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with a Bmus in jazz vocal performance and is now pursuing a varied career. Projects include: ‘An Evening With Billie and Ella’ for the Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire rural touring schemes with tenor saxophonist Tim Whitehead and pianists Pete Jacobsen and Geoff Castle. They performed as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival in Nov 2003. TW6 - In Nov 2002, Kathleen was featured on a commission for the Teignmouth Jazz Festival (South West Arts) written by Tim Whitehead for his jazz sextet - TW6 and choir. Kathleen has had new arrangements written for her by leading composers in the classical and jazz fields incl Liam Noble, Colin Riley, Errollyn Wallen, Tim Whitehead and Peter Wiegold. These pieces were first performed at the Spitz Club and the Purcell Room for a concert series supported by London Arts in Autumn 2002 featuring the Homemade Orchestra (a 12-piece jazz/ classical ensemble). They toured this program with music from the Homemade Orchestra’s first album TIDES in Spring 2004 with the support of the Arts Council of England. Kathleen also performs with Latin/ Jazz sextet Azul. They recorded their debut album Beautiful People in 2001 and have performed at leading jazz venues across the UK. She has worked amongst others with Chris Smith’s String of Pearls Orchestra, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, KO (original songs written by KW performed at Ronnie Scott’s and the Jazz Café) and Natalie Williams as a backing vocalist Kathleen has recorded for Global Kiss (played on KissFM and ChoiceFM), Radio Clyde (Candle Music), Sprite/ Fanta (Candle Music) and on the feature films THE MUMMY RETURNS and TOMBRAIDER 2 (Sinfonia of London Professional Chorus). www.kathleenwillison.com