Dianne Reeves

Dianne Reeves
Reeves with the Boston Pops, June 2007
Background information
Birth name Dianne Elizabeth Reeves
Born (1956-10-23) October 23, 1956
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Origin Los Angeles, California
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1976–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website www.diannereeves.com

Dianne Elizabeth Reeves (born October 23, 1956) is a jazz singer. Commentator Scott Yanow said of her, "A logical successor to Dinah Washington and Carmen McRae. Reeves is a superior interpreter of lyrics and a skilled scat singer."[1]

Career

Reeves in April 2011

Dianne Reeves was born into a musical family. Her father sang, her mother played trumpet, her uncle is bassist Charles Burrell, and her cousin is George Duke. Although she was born in Detroit, she was raised in Denver. In 1971 she started singing and playing piano.[2]

She was a member of her high school band, and while performing at a convention in Chicago was noticed by trumpeter Clark Terry, who invited her to sing with him: "He had these amazing all-star bands, but I had no idea who they all were! The thing I loved about it was the way they interacted with each other - the kind of intimate exchange that I wasn't part of. For a young singer, it was fertile soil."[3] She studied classical voice at the University of Colorado for a time,[4] then moved to Los Angeles, where she sang with Stanley Turrentine and Lenny White. She became a member of the jazz fusion group Caldera (produced by Larry Dunn),[5] then founded another fusion group, Night Flight, with Billy Childs, with whom she would collaborate again in the 1990s. She moved to New York City and from 1983 to 1986 toured with Harry Belafonte.[2]

She signed with Blue Note Records in 1987, staying with the label until 2009, and she subsequently signed with Concord Records.[1] In the late 1980s, she had major success with a crossover song called "Better Days", often times referred to as "The Grandma Song", because she pays homage to grandmother in that song.

In 2005, she featured in the George Clooney film Good Night, And Good Luck singing 1950s standards,[1] (including "How High the Moon", "I've Got My Eyes on You", "Too Close For Comfort", "Straighten Up and Fly Right" and "One for My Baby"), and in 2006 the album of the soundtrack won the GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.[3]

Awards and honors

Discography

Studio albums
Christmas albums
  • 2004: Christmas Time Is Here
Soundtrack albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
  • 1996: The Palo Alto Sessions 1981-1985
  • 2002: The Best of Dianne Reeves
  • 2006: Music for Lovers

Filmography

References

  1. 1 2 3 Scott Yanow (1956-10-23). "Dianne Reeves | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  2. 1 2 Frederickson, Scott; Kennedy, Gary (2002). Kernfeld, Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 3 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 390. ISBN 1-56159-284-6.
  3. 1 2 John L. Walters, "Keeping it real", The Guardian, April 4, 2008.
  4. ↑ "In Conversation: Dianne Reeves", Rehearsal Magazine.
  5. ↑ Christopher Loudon, "Dianne Reeves: The JazzTimes Interview", JazzTimes, 4 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "Dr. Dianne Reeves, Students Play Blue Note, David Azarian Benefit", AllAboutJazz, May 1, 2003.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.