Great Ladies of Jazz 1 & 2
These shows were 'born' at Ash Lawn Highlands Summer Concert Series in Charlottesville, VA in the early 1990's and resulted in Stephanie teaching a few semesters of a course she designed for the University of Virginia.
Soon after, she recorded a CD in tribute to 20 of these great jazz singers for the VSOP record label (“Thrush Hour”) including a booklet describing how she altered her singing style and phrasing to more authentically emulate each singer – from Bessie Smith to Billie to Ella to Peggy Lee to Abby Lincoln to Blossom Dearie – the many flavors of jazz singing – from Blues to Bop to Big Band to Cool to R&B to Cabaret.
This CD was so influential that the Pocket Songs label (which produced hundreds of Karaoke recordings) released two CDs using this recording and the background tracks from it (minus Stephanie's singing) so that the students could sing along. They later released two sing-along songbooks to accompany the two CDs as well (“Great Ladies of Jazz: Vol 1&2”).
She continues to perform this show actively and expand on the singers she includes – always showing links between them and the lineage of this art form.