Dee Dee Bridgewater

After performing a wide variety of music (much of it commercial) for 15 years, in the mid-'80s Dee Dee Bridgewater returned to jazz. The highly appealing vocalist, although still involved in theater work and other areas of music, has mostly recorded straight-ahead jazz ever since, carving out a niche for herself. This set with her regular French quartet has Bridgewater exploring and swinging some of her favorite standards.

Dee Dee Bridgewater (born May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award - winning stage actress and host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Dee Dee Bridgewater (born May 27, 1950) is an American Jazz singer. She is a two-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award - winning stage actress and host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization. Bridgewater is the first American to be inducted to the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie. She has received the Award of Arts and Letters in France. She also won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in The Wiz. Dee Dee Bridgewater is named as one of the top singers in both critics' and readers' Down Beat polls.

Dee Dee Bridgewater has gone back to her beginning…Memphis, TN. Born in the city known for its pivotal part in American culture, music and civil rights struggle, Bridgewater was part of an American legacy. After moving to Flint, Michigan, Bridgewater s childhood nights were spent tuning into Memphis WDIA, the first radio station in the nation featuring all-black programming. It was also the station where her father spun vinyl as the on-air disc jockey, Matt the Platter Cat. This album is not only a return to Bridgewater s roots, but it offers ground-breaking re-imagining of American Blues and R&B classics with backing by the Stax Academy Choir, Kirk Whalum and recorded at Willie Mitchell s world-renowned Royal Studios.

Dee Dee Bridgewater's move to France awhile back has resulted in her having a relatively low profile in jazz. This excellent live set should help restore her reputation. Whether it be a three-song Horace Silver medley, the warhorse "All of Me," Jobim's "How Insensitive," "Night in Tunisia" or the rarely performed "Strange Fruit," Bridgewater (who is backed by a French rhythm section) is in top form, singing with swing and sensitivity.

Even though Just Family was produced by Stanley Clarke and employs a lot of musicians who had jazz backgrounds – including Chick Corea, George Duke, Airto Moreira, and Bobby Lyle – this is an R&B album first and foremost. Dee Dee Bridgewater would return to jazz in a major way in the 1980s, but in the late 1970s, she was emphasizing adult-oriented R&B and going after fans of artists like Phyllis Hyman and Minnie Riperton.

This release is more properly identified as a various artists compilation, which includes the pop sounds of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Most of the orchestrations and arrangements are pleasant, even if they're not blatantly original. Alto saxophonist Bobby Watson is superb on "Mood Indigo" and the exotic "Fleurette Africaine." The orchestra does a fine job with the rarely heard suite "Night Creature." Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater shines frequently; backed by a superb quartet including Wynton Marsalis, she delivers a delightful cover of "I'm Beginning To See The Light." But it is her hypnotic, chanting introduction, backed by Middle Eastern percussion and Steve Turre's conch shells, that gives this release an occasional freshness usually lacking in similar Ellington tributes.