O.Henry Select Saturday Jazz: Lalenja Harrington *TICKETS NOT REQUIRED*

Lalenja Harrington has been singing with her family for as far back as she can remember. There were very few car rides with her dad and sister, or family get togethers that did not involve the joyful rising up of voices in tight familial harmonies. Her mother’s family provided her with a deep love of the blues, jazz, and soul, particularly those seminal women of the jazz era like Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Sara Vaughn, and of course Ella Fitzgerald.

Her passion for making music however, did not manifest itself more formally until she Joined her college a capella group, The Tigerlilies, providing her with many opportunities to sink into a mean base line as a second alto, and grow her confidence to even step out of the shadows and make her own individual voice known.

After college, singing took a backseat to other creative endeavors like spoken word, although performance always remained at the center. It was only when she joined her 9-year-old son on the stage in a musical, that Lalenja reconnected with her own love of singing beyond family functions. That first production opened the flood gates, and since then she has enjoyed a number of lead roles in local productions like Rent, Children of Eden, Born Bad, and her most challenging musical role as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.

Lalenja’s instinct for conveying emotion through word and song, along with her rich, velvety tone, will keep audiences enthralled and deeply engaged with those jazz standards.

Host or Publisher Green Valley Grill