Celebrate Billie Holiday with free event at Union Station

Denver Union Station hosts a free jazz celebration to honor Billie Holiday’s 100th birthday from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday  in the Great Hall, 1700 Wynkoop St. Venus Cruz, local jazz vocalist and host of KUVO’s “Jazz Odyssey,” will perform a centennial tribute alongside some of Denver’s finest jazz musicians.

Sometimes referred to as the “Harlem of the West,” Denver’s Five Points neighborhood was once a major hub for jazz greats during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Along with many important jazz figures of her era, Holiday performed at The Rossonian Hotel, a jazz club nestled in the heart of the Five Points community.

Denver Union Station hosts Holiday’s centennial celebration as a way to commemorate the legacy and impact she left on the Denver jazz scene and American jazz culture at large. The Apollo Theatre in New York also is commemorating Holiday’s centennial with her induction into the Walk Of Fame and a special performance Friday by vocalist Cassandra Wilson.