Monday, October 14, 2024. Blue Note Jazz Club, Manhattan, New York. — Grammy and Golden Globe Award-winning, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and actress Andra Day headlined the Blue Note Jazz Cafe on Monday, October 14, and Tuesday, October 15th, 2024 to promote her critically acclaimed new album, CASSANDRA (cherith); cherith, meaning cutting; separation; a gorge, a torrent-bed, emphasizes the phase in life in which Adnra finds herself during the recording of this album.
The prolific vocalist entered the intimate cafe, packed wall to wall, greeting her friends and fans who awaited her live performance with high anticipation to hear her bare her soul. Under blue lit hues, Andra opens up with a clear and frank declaration to her audience, “I’m going to be talking about my ex, a lot.”
Andra states and the crowd explodes into laughter and she continues to bear her soul about the therapeutic ways in which music, and the composition of her new album, have helped her to heal and release the pains of her breakup with her former lover. She commands the attention of the audience who wait in breathless suspense for each manipulation of each note she sings.
With the versatility of a live band of musicians, skilled enough to play abstract rhythms from jazz to Latin-infused grooves, Andra effortlessly glides through each featured song from her album, such as, “Maybe Next Time”, “Probably” recognized as a Top 20 Radio Hit, “Bottom Of The Bottle” and “The Meantime”.
During her live set, she praises and introduces Producer, Songwriter and Recording Artist, and two-time Grammy Award winner, Kendra Foster, on a popular cut from her album, “NARCOS (H.C.D)”. Kendra, who performed for artists such as George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and D’Angelo and The Vanguard; also introduced and performed music from her untitled, up-and-coming album.
The evening closed with Andra’s hauntingly beautiful rendition of Billie Holiday’s, “Strange Fruit” and the certified quadruple platinum single, “Rise Up” from Andra’s debut album, Cheers To The Fall (2015). Andra expressed heartfelt gratitude to God as she poured her soul into her appreciation for the covering and the protection that has brought her through this storm of her life. Andra lovingly thanked all in attendance, before gracefully exiting from the soft blue hues cascading across the stage.