The legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday set standards with her music that are still relevant today for subsequent generations. The same is true of Michael Gibbs, who, as a composer of modern big band literature alongside Pat Metheney, Gary Burton, and many others, can look back on an internationally brilliant career. Back in the 1960s, as a student at Berklee College of Music, Michael Gibbs was fascinated by “Lady Day” (the nickname given to her by Lester Young) and wrote several arrangements for the songs that made Lady Day famous during her tragically short life. In 2002, the Upper Austrian Jazz Orchestra began collaborating with Michael Gibbs, now 89 years young. “101 Years Glenn Miller” (2005) and “Swing And All That Jazz” (2012) are two CD productions that resulted from this collaboration and were released by ATS Records. The singer Ali Gaggl can be heard on these albums and she will also take on the vocal part in the Billie Holiday set, interpreting the favorite works of this jazz icon. Together with Michael Gibbs, the subtle guest conductor Ed Puddick from Birmingham will accompany the orchestra through the concert. As a close confidant and long-time assistant to Gibbs, Ed Puddick, whose music was released by the UAJO on the album “Crazy Days” (ATS Records), will conduct original compositions by Michael Gibbs in the second set.