“One of the Best Concerts of 2014…this singer and pianist put on A Girl Named Bill, a revue-with-dialogue about Billy Tipton, the little-known midcentury jazz bandleader, who was assumed to be a man but was discovered at his death to be a woman. Under deceptively ragged humor and a wildly broad repertory illuminating various angles of the story — by Jelly Roll Morton, Yoko Ono, Cindy Walker and Ms. McKay herself — lay a devastating theme: how, and why, to live with secrets.” – Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
With an undeniable stage presence, versatile musicianship and captivating concert narratives, Nellie McKay blends jazz and cabaret—along with so many other genres that have informed her work—like no other and now presents A Girl Named Bill: The Life and Times of Billy Tipton. Based on the life of jazz pianist/bandleader Tipton, A Girl Named Bill brings to the story what The Washington Post writes in their depiction of McKay as “…a wry, subversive wit and a killer voice.” A former standup comedian, McKay’s artistic path is multi-directional and encompasses as much acting as deft musicianship. The New Yorker aptly sums it up by describing McKay as “…funny and touching, ceaselessly clever and scarily talented.”