Stella Heath: The Billie Holiday Project

Stella Heath has many stories to tell. Since emerging on the Bay Area jazz scene in 2014, she’s become one of the busiest and most consistently captivating vocalists in the region. Her debut album, For Billie, flows out of one of her signature endeavors, The Billie Holiday Project. Scheduled for release by Matterhorn Records on May 15, 2026, it’s a gorgeous, consistently captivating album that illuminates the treacherous emotional terrain that Holiday navigated as a soul bearing singer. “Billie is one of those rare artists that hold up a mirror and reflect back the deep and complex emotions we all hold inside,” says Heath, who’s earned a devoted following with her lustrous voice, supple sense of swing, and wide-ranging command of a vast repertoire. A dedicated educator, she’s led a Gypsy jazz combo, created historically rooted shows focusing on the early music of the Nat “King” Cole Trio, Ella Fitzgerald, and Edith Piaf, and worked with many of the Bay Area’s finest improvisers.