Billie Holiday, Anita O’Day, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, and others.

Early in their careers, they were “canaries” -- women singing with the great Big Bands of Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman, and others.

But these women were birds of a feather in more ways than one. They didn’t let bandleaders define them and they all went on to soloist careers.

Now California-based music nonprofit, Jazz at the Ballroom, is presenting Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared. It’s a revue of the music made famous by jazz canaries once they spread their wings!

1. On the Sunny Side of the Street (Champian Fulton)
2. Secret Love (Vanessa Perea)
3. Don’t Know Enough About You (Olivia Chindamo)
4. I Only Have Eyes for You (Jane Monheit)
5. All of Me (Champian Fulton)
6. Lullaby of the Leaves (Carmen Bradford)
7. Sweet Georgia Brown (Olivia Chindamo)
8. Why Don’t You Do Right (Gretje Angell)
9. What a Difference a Day Made (Champian Fulton)
10. The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else (Vanessa Perea)
11. Social Call (Jane Monheit)
12. You Belong to Me (Gretje Angell)
13. The Man I Love (Champian Fulton)
14. Tea for Two (Carmen Bradford)
15. Exactly Like You (Champian Fulton)

This brilliantly sculpted new recording opens on the rhythmically dutiful Sunny Side of the Street and a delightfully perky Secret Love, a mood-induced Don’t Know Enough About You, and then comes a forthright I Only Have Eyes for You, a melodious All of Me, the gentle finger-snapper Lullaby of the Leaves, and a scintillating Sweet Georgia Brown.

The smooth hipsway of Why Don’t You Do Right is itself backed by the smokey What a Difference a Day Made, and then comes the upbeat and joyful The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else, the recording rounding out on the ambient nature within Social Call, the smooth as silk You Belong to Me, a dutifully dedicated The Man I Love, closing on the perky Tea for Two and a delicately-sculpted Exactly Like You.

www.jazzattheballroom.com