Talking the Coda: Billie Holiday with Valentina Shelton

Welcome back to Talking the Coda, a podcast that examines musical artists whose careers were cut short, either by a death, break-up, retirement, or any other circumstance. When a prominent musician stops making music suddenly, there is often a mystique surrounding the work they did finish in their time. In many cases, a musician with a short career can be especially influential because of the sense of loss, of what the artist could have been if they had more time. Each month, Luke Martin (co-host of last year’s Pod on the Rooftops mini-series on the band Genesis) will dive into the work of one musician or band with such an ending to their career. For this episode, Luke discusses the singular jazz/pop vocalist Billie Holiday. Luke is joined by Valentina Shelton, a pianist and vocalist originally from LA, currently based in Miami. In addition to Holiday’s career and legacy, Luke and Valentina’s conversation moves from the universality of pop lyrics to Shelton’s experience as a female musician in a majority-male field to the unpredictability of the creative process. Songs featured in this episode are two new recordings from the Valentina Shelton Quartet. The first is an arrangement of the jazz standard “Beautiful Friendship”, and the second is a fresh take on the Mamas and the Papas classic, “California Dreamin’”. You can follow Luke Martin on Youtube and Instagram. His debut single, “Stuck In My Room”, is available on all streaming platforms, and his band, Socially Distanced, can also be found on Facebook, YouTube, and their website. Shelton can be followed on her YouTube channel.  . Be sure to check back next month for a discussion of a new musical artist with a new guest!