Love-songs - as imperishable as love itself

A Portrait. With her warm voice, the American singer Dianne Reeves lends old jazz standards a briskness that makes them as poignant as ever. Her current CD A Little Moonlight attests to these powers.

Dianne Reeves doesn’t merely enter a room, she appears. She does it so unpretentiously that a simple pair of sports shoes and a form-fitting jeans skirt suffice to make a room fall silent for a second, leaving it a bit dazed by her presence.
When she was young, she listened to all types of Afro-American music and has remained true to the gospel’s call and response style: You might say she chats with her fellow musicians while singing. “Making music and listening to it is a very intimate, a very spiritual matter. That’s why I want to give back to the audience all the positive energy I have when I’m composing.”
Dianne Reeves was born in Detroit in 1956 and raised in Chicago. She grew up in a musical family. Her uncle Nat Reeves, himself a highly acclaimed jazz musician, encouraged Reeves to begin formal training as a jazz singer at a very young age. As a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, she sang Gospel while incorporating European genres of music, she sang madrigals while listening to all the topical pop records at home. After all, those were the days of Motown productions. “We experienced Disco and HipHop live back then. I was never all that fond of Disco, though, because it lacked rhythmic variety. And besides, the live- aspect, the vocal improvisation, has been the most important part of my work from the very outset.”
Vigorous creative impulses in the early 1980s actuated a tour with the Brazilian master of swing Sergio Mendes and her move to New York City. In her debut there, Welcome To My Love (Palo Alto Jazz, 1982), she absorbed the city’s rhythm accompanied by subtle HipHop elements. A profound change of the course of Dianne Reeves’s career was triggered, when she signed a fixed contract with Bruce Lundvall, president of Blue Note Records in 1987: Since then, more than half of her over 20 albums has been released under this renowned New York label.

Visions of Pop and Role Models

Though, who would she really love to work with? Her quick comeback reveals how well-versed she is in current pop music: “Andre 3000 from the band Outkast! You can tell when you listen to that band that it’s totally tuned to its roots. Generally, I believe it is crucial to know your musical origins. After all, this is the basis upon which everything else is built, and it gives you a better understanding of your own musical progress.”
Reeves knows what she is talking about. Her second-to-last album in 2001, The Calling (Blue Note Records), is a tribute to Sarah Vaughan, a singer she greatly respects, and her new CD A Little Moonlight features new interpretations of old jazz standards. With its strictly acoustical instrumentation, Moonlight takes a clean approach to the songs. She recorded with her favorite band: pianist Peter Martin, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. The pieces of music shine brilliantly yet again when Reeves’ rich contralto proffers new interpretations of I Concentrate On You (Cole Porter), Skylark (Hoagy Carmichael) and the CD’s title song - composed by Harry M. Woods in the 1920s - and performed by Billie Holiday and Disco Queen Diana Ross. The emotional depth she achieves in these songs is so compelling, that even as tough a jury as the one at the Grammy Awards was won over. They appointed A Little Moonlight as the “Best Jazz Record of the Year” in 2003. Dianne Reeves now has three Grammies lined up on her mantelpiece.
Furthermore, Dianne Reeves is also an artist capable of filling the stage with glamour when she performs. On the evening of her performance at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Dianne Reeves was attired accordingly, draped in a casual yet elegant evening dress in line with the etiquette. Set off by exquisite red high-heels, the kind of shoes Charly Parker always used to dream about. Dianne Reeves, diva incarnate. “I love feminine evening dresses like this. I don’t spend money on special brand names, but my extensive shoe collection makes up for that. I must have at least 200 pairs.” She throws her head back coquettishly. “I just love shoes!” And then the resolute look returns to Reeves’ face: “Our band may be loosely structured, but I am definitely the queen bee. It is my band and I’m very proud of it. And do you know what? I love to celebrate with my guys over dinner before a concert."

Keep it simple, keep it real

Her day-to-day routine is less spectacular than one might expect. Life is more carefree, too. After so many years laboriously training her voice, Reeves doesn’t need to spend hours practicing every day anymore. Otherwise, she tries to live as healthy a life as possible. “I work out as often as I can. It makes me feel stronger, physically and mentally." She shares this trait with the young female rappers of the MTV generation.
Ms Reeves also considers herself a political person. “In the current situation, I would like to raise awareness in people - especially young Afro-American women - of how crucial it is to use their franchise. They should exercise their right to vote, a right so many fought so hard for in the past. I didn’t support the war against Iraq. My people were really lead astray by the US government.”
Her remedy for countering daily animosities is manifested in the first track of A Little Moonlight where Reeves delivers a swinging song of praise to love in her interpretation of Richard Rodgers’ I Want Loads of Lovely Love. People have been singing about it forever and will keep on doing so. But only a handful can sing of love with such emotional and harmonious power as Reeves does.

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