In this musical era where you could throw a rock in any direction on the corner of Highland and Sunset and hit 5 aspiring jazz singers, Dee Dee Bridgewater has always remained one of the truly great vocalists. Never weighed down by the obligatory American Songbook, she has carved out a career by putting out albums themed by such diverse topics as Horace Silver, Ella Fitzgerald, Chanson, Billie Holiday and the West African country Mali. Winning two Grammy’s for her Ella and Holiday releases, as well as a Tony for her performance in The Wiz, she has recently released a collection of her favorite love songs, culled from her previous albums.
We’ve caught up with the effervescent Ms. Bridgewater, and peppered her with some questions about her albums and career.
ON HER EARLY DAYS SINGING WITH THE THAD JONES/MEL LEWIS ORCHESTRA
It was a great experience. Instead of going to music school, I went to the school of Thad Jones, with his big band. Everything I’ve learned about being a jazz singer I’ve learned from Thad. I learned from Thad about carrying a repertoire. Singing up in front a big band of that caliber, with that power and dynamics was the best education I could have for me to work in front of any band, and of course, every big band has to measure up to the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and very few do. I learned how to project my voice over all of the brass instruments while in the Village Vanguard, and then on concert stages that had sound systems that were nowhere near the kind of sound systems that we have today. That was a great, great experience.
ON RETURNING TO THE US AFTER LIVING 14 YEARS IN FRANCE
It was 14 years full time before I ever came back to The States. I came back for personal reasons, to be with my mom and step father, who had retired in Las Vegas. That’s how I ended up living there; to help them out when they needed it. I just felt that it was time to come back and be with some family.
As far as the work, before I moved back in ’99, I had made some forays into coming back into performing, and I started that in 1995. It was the vice president of the Ted Kurland Agency, Laurel Wicks, who offered to help me to get my first gigs and concert engagements, and I’ve been with her and the Kurland Agency ever since.
It helped to have a very reputable booking agency behind me. The reception I received when I first came back was mixed, because I came back performing in the States with French and European musicians. It was almost a curiosity when I first came back, and then a “wow” because the musicians had the same caliber of musicality and musicianship as American musicians. Then, I came back doing the Horace Silver material, and that helped me get my footing. I kind of expected (some skepticism) because when I left the States in 86, I wasn’t doing jazz at all. I had stepped away from jazz in 76. I did The Wiz and several Broadway musicals, but I started doing pop music, and then was part of the whole jazz fusion scene that morphed into smooth jazz.
WHY HER ALBUMS NEVER ALWAYS CENTERED AROUND A PARTICULAR SUBJECT
I believe that every album should have a theme. What else is an album going to be? Just a mish-mash of songs, or is there some kind of idea behind it? For me, I believe it should have an idea and a theme. I am a theme artisan in that respect. That’s part of who I am, and how I see things.
SINCE YOUR NEW RELEASE IS ABOUT LOVE SONGS, WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST FAVORITE LOVE SONGS?
I would say that the first one that really hit me…there were two. There was “Guess Who I Saw Today” by Nancy Wilson, and “The House is Not A Home” by Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach. It was the music itself and they reminded me of a boyfriend, especially “Guess Who…” because I had a little boyfriend that I busted with another girl! I remember when I wanted to sing that song, my mommy was like, “No, you are too song to sing about that. You don’t know what it is.” I would argue with her and say, “Yes I do! I know!”
IS THERE A SONG YOU WISH YOU’D HAVE WRITTEN
No , because I don’t consider myself as a song writer. I do look at songs and think, “I wish I’d have sung that.” I have more of that kind of approach. The closest that feeling came to was when Paul Simon did the album Graceland. That album, I wore it out, and I wished I could write like Paul Simon.
COMPOSER THAT YOU LOVE TO SING TO
The only composer that I’m madly in love with is Horace Silver. I have toyed with idea of going back and doing another Horace Silver project, as he has such a wealth of material. He’s from the bebop era, and his music is so syncopated and so challenging to sing, as opposed to play. His music is really written for instrumentalists, not for singers necessarily. So, when I did Love and Peace, for example, I had to work for a long time to marry Horace’s lyrics with the syncopation of the melody, so that I could get that same swing going. So, at the same time that I was trying to present an album of songs that would be new fodder for jazz singers looking for material outside of the American Songbook, it was quite challenging, and I’m convinced that’s why so much of his music of his song is not sung today. Still, I wanted to open singers up to his material. There are songs such as “Song For My Father” and “Doodlin’” that are vocally more accessible than, say, a “St. Vida’s Dance” or “Pretty Eyes.” “Lonely Woman” was a stunning ballad, and I’m glad to have it on my compilation cd.
ANY SONGWRITERS YOU’D LIKE TO DO AN ALBUM OF?
There’s a few. I wouldn’t mind doing a songbook of Bill Withers. I’ve been thinking about Bill a lot, and he wrote some incredible songs, and not many people are doing him anymore.
YOUR FAVORITE AND MOST ROMANTIC INSTRUMENTALIST
(Long Pause) I’m stumped. Maybe it’s because I don’t listen to a lot of music. There’s no one that I’m listening to other than the time I was really into Horace and singing his songs. That’s why I have a Horace Silver song on an album, but Horace doesn’t conjure up romance.
HOW DOES WINNING A GRAMMY EFFECT YOUR CAREER?
The Ella Grammy helped a lot, of course. It was kind of like getting the Golden Seal of Approval from Good Housekeeping. At that time I was still living in Paris, and I came to the States to do the album, and it was a daunting project. I actually tried to get out of it, the day after I made the suggestion of doing it. I said to myself, “Have I lost my mind?” Doing a tribute to one of America’s legends. It was Ray Brown who was the catalyst for me moving forward on the project.
It was a huge career boost. I was able to start singing in Performing Arts Centers. I found myself booked on smooth jazz festivals with my acoustic band. That was an interesting experience. Imagine an acoustic band with a singer sandwiched between Tower of Power and Kook and the Gang. Tell me how that is! You gotta find something that will hold ‘em! That was a very challenging time.
The Eleanor Fagan Grammy win has been like an affirmation. It’s a reconfirmation of what and who I am. I try to do the best work that I can do. I never do an album hoping I can get a Grammy nomination. I do a project because I believe in what I’m doing and I want to do it. If something in it is a challenge for me…coming back and doing the Billie Holiday disc after going to Mali was a very unusual situation. That Eleanor Fagan album was originally not recorded to be a commercial release. I recorded it to part of a double cd that I was going to do to coincide with me doing the play that I had done on Billie Holiday, “Lady Day.”
When that fell through, I optioned the play and was going to produce it with some outside producing/financial help. When I thought that was going to happen, I ran into the studio with themusicians who were all available in the little pocket of time that I had. (Pianist) Edsel Gomez, who did all the arrangements, was doing the arrangements for this project. He was also at the same time starting to write arrangements for the play itself, so I asked him to do the arrangements, gave him an idea of the tunes I wanted, and some of them he picked. We recorded it in three days. It was great, a live album in the studio. I then just put it on the shelf until the (play) production was up, and then was going to do a cast album of the musicians that were going to do the play with me in the style of the play in the 50s. When it didn’t happen, when I had to abandon the project, I had this album. Universal, which distributes my label, asked if they could hear it, and they said that I have to release it as a commercial cd. I though, “Oh, No! Here I go; a singer who does other singers! The tribute maker! I didn’t want to fall into that. So, the rest is history, and I’m very grateful that Universal asked me to put this album out commercially, as I’ve now walked up twice to the Grammy podium via Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and that ain’t bad!
And that ain’t a bad career, either! If you’ve never heard this lady, or scene her in concert,you’re missing one of the true great jazz experiences. Someday, someone will do a tribute to Ms. Bridgewater, until then, enjoy the real thing