 Photo by Andrea Canter A
career in music and specifically in jazz was Dee Dee’s destiny.
Born Denise “Dee Dee” Garrett in Memphis, she moved to Flint,
Michigan as a young child. Surrounded by music, her first source of
inspiration was the voice of Ella Fitzgerald, which she heard on her
mother’s recordings. Her father was a trumpeter and teacher who
counted Booker Little, Charles Lloyd, and George Coleman among his
students. Dee Dee was singing in a rock and R&B trio as an
adolescent, and toured the Soviet Union with the University of
Illinois Big Band in 1969. In New York a year later with
then-husband, trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, she debuted with the Mel
Lewis/Thad Jones Orchestra. Soon she was performing and/or recording
with such luminaries as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter
Gordon, Max Roach, Roland Kirk, Stanley Clarke and Frank Foster’s
"Loud Minority."
Despite
her success, Dee Dee sought new opportunities to expand her artistry,
and in the mid 70s brought her voice to the Broadway stage, winning
the Tony Award for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in
The Wiz.
From Broadway she went on to Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris and in London
where she won the coveted Laurence Olivier Award nomination as Best
Actress for her role as Billie Holiday in Stephen Stahl’s Lady
Day. She subsequently performed in stagings of
Sophisticated
Ladies,
Cosmopolitan Greetings, Black Ballad, Carmen Jones,
and was the first African American to portray Sally Bowles in the
Paris production of Cabaret.
Bridgewater
turned to pop for a while in the 80s, but after moving to Paris,
found herself pulled back into jazz. As a performer and producer for
Verve, she released a series of acclaimed recordings, beginning with
Keeping Tradition in 1993 and a tribute to Horace Silver, Love
and Peace (1994). Most have received Grammy nominations,
including her much heralded 1997 Grammy winning tribute to her early  Photo by Andrea Canter
Beyond
her roles as performer and producer, Dee Dee Bridgewater has taken on
other challenges. Since 1999, she has served as Ambassador to the
United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as part of
the battle against world hunger. Her efforts as Ambassador were
recognized when she became the first American member of the "Haut
Conseil de la Francophonie," an organization which recognizes
individuals on a global level who have made significant contributions
to French culture and society. As a “jazz ambassador,” Dee Dee
took over as host of NPR’s award-winning Jazz Set in 2001,
replacing Branford Marsalis, and continues in this role today,
introducing listeners to the best jazz artists in live performances
around the world.
With
a voice shaded by Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone, and Tina Turner as well
as Ella, Dee Dee Bridgewater is the penultimate jazz singer, whether
scatting or singing it straight on. “Jazz is my soul, my roots—it’s
me.”
“ Five
minutes into a typical Dee Dee Bridgewater performance and words like
exuberant, ebullient, exhilarating suddenly become wholly
inadequate.” --NPR
Dee
Dee Bridgewater will perform in Seattle at Jazz Alley
www.jazzalley.com; sets at 7:30 and 9:30 pm; 7:30 pm only on Sunday.
She heads south to Catalina's in LA, June 8-11;
www.catalinajazzclub.com; sets at 8:30/10:30 pm; on Sunday at 7:30/9:30 pm. For her west coast gigs, Dee Dee’s band will include Ira Coleman (bass), Edsel Gomez (piano), Antonio Sanchez (drums) and Pernell Saturnino (percussion).
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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