Now and then a thing is just right on all accounts. Rebecca Kilgore is an American jazz singer based in Portland. With hundreds of appearances and more than forty CDs, she has been called “one of the finest interpreters of the Great American Songbook,” and in 2010 she was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. She has appeared with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall, and for three consecutive years was invited to perform at the Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention in Lincoln Center. With a sound all her own, her singing is at the same time subtly suggestive of the warmth of Doris Day. That’s an interesting observation because someone also once said to me, that if Doris Day had sung jazz, she would have been Rebecca Kilgore.

With the recent and sad loss of Doris Day, we found it fitting to remember the beloved songstress in honoring one of her most famous productions, Love Me or Leave Me, the bio-pic of the 1920s singer-actress star, Ruth Etting. It is equally significant given that November 23rd would have been the 121st birthday of Ms. Etting.

Randy Porter, with his sparkling accompaniment on piano, joins in, along with the mastery of Tom Wakeling, who has thrilled audiences playing bass in jazz clubs and at festivals throughout the world. We hope you will join in as well when the Sacramento Jazz Coop proudly showcases Rebecca Kilgore’s, Love Me or Leave me, a Tribute to Doris Day and Ruth Etting.