A Tribute to Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, and Nancy Wilson
Agua Caliente Casino – Cascade Lounge
Story and photos by Jimmy Steinfeldt
Palm Springs, CA (The Hollywood Times) 2/28/25 – This concert was an amazing tribute to Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson and most especially Dinah Washington. Dinah’s famous songs are performed by the talented artist Sweet Baby J’ai who put the show together as a way to pay tribute to Dinah and the pop/blues/jazz greats she influenced (Aretha and Nancy.) The show also celebrated Black History Month.
Aretha Fanklin’s songbook was performed with great energy by Leah Stewart. Nancy Wilson’s songbook was performed with great skill by Sacha Boutros.
Of course, the star singer of the evening was Sweet Baby J’ai performing songs made famous by Dinah. She reminded the audience that Dinah was a key figure in bringing blues and jazz fans to pop music.
Sweet Baby J’ai performed “Birth of the Blues”, “I Could Write a Book”, “What A Difference a Day Makes” and together with Leah “Evil Gal Blues”. Leah performed “Rock Steady”, “Amazing Grace” and “Respect” and was joined on this tune by members of the audience. Sacha performed “Guess Who I saw Today”, “Back in Your Own Backyard”, “How Glad I am” and with Sweet Baby J’ai “Teach Me Tonight”. The performance concluded with a rousing rendition by all 3 singers of “Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On”.
This concert was a full production with a talented band: Pam Phillips-Keys, Rick Taylor-Bass, Moyse Lucas-Drums, Shelley Yoelin-Saxaphone.
The night’s program included a video presentation on how music education is benefiting the young in underserved communities. Funds were raised to provide students with musical instruments. More information on this great program (Smart Initiative) and Sweet Baby J’ai at:
