Few jazz connoisseurs can't rattle off the long lasting impacts of Mildred Bailey.

That she was the nation's first female big band singer in the '30s, and that her singular phrasing influenced the likes of Ella Fitzgerald. That Bing Crosby credited her in his autobiography for launching his career.

But there's one key point music historians have had wrong: That Mildred Bailey was white.

That was a falsehood necessary to achieve stardom for Bailey, who died in 1951, and was in fact a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and raised on the reservation in DeSmet, Idaho.

The truth was finally recognized this year by the state Legislature in a concurrent resolution lauding Bailey's significant career, followed with an April proclamation by Gov. Butch Otter celebrating her jazz contributions.

To honor those involved with the overdue recognition, state and tribal officials assembled with Bailey's niece and other champions of her legacy on Wednesday at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort.

"This story, this aspect of the native piece has yet to be unearthed," said Bailey's niece, singer Julia Rinker Miller, of Native American contributions to jazz. "And it's about to happen."

Miller remembered her aunt's history well on Wednesday.

How in their younger days, her aunt and father, Al Rinker, also a lifelong musician, had palled around in Spokane with a drummer and singer named Bing Crosby.

At 17, Bailey left Spokane to pursue a musical career, Miller said. Bailey eventually persuaded her brother and Crosby to join her in Los Angeles.

"She is the one who hooked them up with the right contacts, and they took off like this," Miller said, snapping her fingers. "She is the one who introduced them to vaudevillian circuits."

Noting that her aunt had been influenced by Native American songs, Miller said Bailey became a vanguard of jazz singing in the '20s, as she performed in nightclubs and speakeasies.

"It allowed her to create her own style, and evolve into an artist," said Miller, adding that Frank Sinatra once approached her to describe how her aunt influenced his style.

But Bailey was always promoted as a white singer, even after joining the famous Paul Whiteman Orchestra, Miller said.

"She was Native American, but that wasn't OK back then," Miller said.

Bailey's sudden recognition in Idaho is all thanks to a particularly big fan: Julia Keefe, Nez Perce tribal member and singer from Kamiah.

Keefe said she had researched Bailey after reading Crosby's praise of her, and was surprised by the parallels. Like Keefe, Bailey was Native American, and had spent much of her youth in Spokane.

But few others knew about the singer's history.

"When I asked people about Mildred Bailey, nobody knew who she was. I thought that was a bit of a crime," said Keefe, 23.

So when Keefe performed at a legislative function this past Christmas at the Coeur d'Alene Casino, she mentioned Bailey's achievements to the influential audience.

The lawmakers responded immediately.

"Bob Nonini came up to me and was like, 'I'm going to do something. I want to make this happen,'" Keefe recalled.

Framed copies of the resolution and proclamation were distributed to officials, as well as Keefe and Miller, on Wednesday.

Rep. Nonini said he was impressed how quickly the resolution happened.

"Julia Keefe has done an amazing job of keeping that issue alive," said Nonini, chair of the Idaho Council on Indian Affairs.

Otter said he had been surprised to learn the breadth of Bailey's musical history.

"I had no idea it was Mildred responsible for Bing, rather than Bing responsible for Mildred," he said.

Chief Allan, Coeur d'Alene Tribe chairman, thanked Keefe for supporting a Native American role model.

"As a young person in a native group, it's always hard to look around and look for someone that inspires us," Allan said. "You were able to do that."

Keefe, also petitioning to induct Bailey into the Jazz Hall of Fame at the Lincoln Center in New York City, entertained the gathering by singing "Rockin' Chair," long inseparable with Bailey's name.

"We still have a long way to go," Keefe said. "So much of this was an uphill battle for me."

Bailey was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1989. Her visage was featured in a series of Blues and Jazz Singers stamps in 1994.

Miller thanked Keefe by singing the lines "you started something" from an old jazz song.

"You, Julia, have started something," Miller told her. "We thank you from the bottom of our hearts."