Ledisi "For Dinah"

The world knows Ledisi as an R&B star who earned a dozen GRAMMY nominations before taking home her first award in 2021 for her song “Anything For You.” But Bay Area audiences first got to know the New Orleans native during her formative years in Oakland when she was stretching her wings as an ostentatiously gifted jazz singer. For this exclusive night, she returns to Davies Symphony Hall with her heartfelt tribute to the “Queen of the Blues,” Dinah Washington, backed by her finely minted band.

This performance coincides with the release of Ledisi's tribute album, For Dinah, set for October 3, 2025, which is produced by Christian McBride and Rex Rideout.

Conservatory trained in UC Berkeley’s Young Musician Program, Ledisi is deeply versed in the full continuum of African American music, embodying each idiom so powerfully that Hollywood has often come calling since she made her screen debut as a blues singer in George Clooney’s 2008 comedy Leatherheads. She went on to portray Mahalia Jackson in the Academy Award-winning Selma and Patti LaBelle in the BET series American Soul. She played the gospel legend again in the 2022 Hulu film Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story and Gladys Knight in the Neil Bogart biopic Spinning Gold.

On the heels of her sold-out 2023-24 Season tribute to the High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone, it’s no surprise that Ledisi has turned her attention to the great Dinah Washington — a crystal-voiced performer who was among the most popular artists of the 1950s and, like Ledisi herself, effortlessly balanced the jazz tradition with blues, R&B, soul, and pop music.

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