Helen introduces herself as a Jazz singer from the future, describing the genre and legendary icons of the jazz age that the audience will meet on their journey back through time.  Helen and members of the audience will travel back through the decades by sitting on the time chair, passport checks and digital resources have failed, and this journey is all about being present and keeping the music live.  

Helen introduces the audience to Bessie Smith in character as Billie Holiday, singing ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do’, citing Bessie as her inspiration to become a Queen of Jazz.  She narrates Billie’s story throughout by singing the classic jazz hits ‘Summertime’, ‘Strange Fruit’, ‘Good Morning Heartache’, ‘God Bless the Child’, ‘All of Me’ and ‘Them There Eyes’ as children in the audience are encouraged to dress up and join in the role play. The chair begins to whir And the audience suddenly land in the Apollo Theatre where Ella Fitzgerald makes her debut. The children in the audience are invited to join the orchestra, with Helen making call and response prompts to lead ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing’.

Helen gets back in the time chair which clicks into action against the futuristic soundtrack, way back into the past as she tells the history of jazz and its origins in the African drum, born out of slavery as a language of heritage and resistance.  Helen takes on the persona of Nina Simone and narrates Nina’s story with the band referencing many of her best known hits by playing intro and chorus of ‘Love Me, Leave Me’, ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’, ‘I Love You Porgy’, and ‘I Wish I Knew How It Feels to Be Free’.  The audience hears how Nina protested alongside Martin Luther King against segregation and wrote songs celebrating Black identity, singing ‘Feeling Good’ and ‘I Got Life’.  Helen thanks the band.