Share on Facebook
Learn 50 things you didn't know about jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves.
1. Dianne Reeves is the jazz vocalist.
2. Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings.
3. Featured in George Clooney's six-time Academy Award nominated "Good Night, and Good Luck," Reeves won her fourth Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for film's soundtrack.
4. Reeves has recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
5. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim
6. Was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.
7. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
8. She was the first singer to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall.
9. Reeves worked with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of standards featuring her touring trio.
10. She released a holiday collection Christmas Time is Here.
11. When Reeves' holiday collection Christmas Time is Here was released, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times raved, "Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assignment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CD's I've heard."
12. In recent years Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including a program entitled "Sing the Truth," a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Liz Wright and Angelique Kidjo.
13. She performed at the White House on multiple occasions.
14. She performed during President Obama's State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors' Ball.
15. Reeves released Beautiful Life, her first album in five years.
16. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington and featuring Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway, and Esperanza Spalding, Beautiful Life was nominated for the 2015 Best Jazz Vocal Performance Grammy award.
17. In January 2015 Reeves will be joining Paul Simon, James Taylor and Bobby McFerrin in a tribute to Michael Brecker at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
18. She has been one of the leading exponents of the genre since the 1980s.
19. According to commentator Scott Yanow: "A logical successor to Dinah Washington and Carmen McRae (although even she cannot reach the impossible heights of Ella and Sarah Vaughan), Reeves is a superior interpreter of lyrics and a skilled scat singer."
20. Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan.
21. She was born into a musical family.
22. Her father, who died when she was two years old.
23. Her father was also a singer.
24. Her mother, Vada Swanson, played trumpet.
25. Her cousin was George Duke, the well-known piano and keyboard player and record producer.
26. Dianne and her sister Sharon were raised by their mother in Denver, Colorado.
27. As a child, Dianne took piano lessons and sang at every opportunity.
28. In 2001 she won Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for her album In the Moment - Live In Concert.
29. In 2002 he won Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for her album The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan.
30. When she was eleven years old, her interest in music was enhanced by an inspiring teacher who thought that music was the best way to bring students together.
31. Her uncle, Charles Burrell, a bass player with the Denver Symphony Orchestra, introduced her to the music of jazz singers, from Ella Fitzgerald to Billie Holiday. She was especially impressed by Sarah Vaughan.
32. At the age of 16, Reeves was singing in her high school big-band at the George Washington High School in Denver. That same year, the band played at a music festival (Convention of the National Association of Jazz Educators). Her band won first place, and it was there she met the trumpeter Clark Terry, who became her mentor.
33. In 2004 she won Grammy Award for her album A Little Moonlight.
34. 2006 marks another Grammy Award win for her Good Night, and Good Luck (Soundtrack).
35. A year later, Reeves began studying music at the University of Colorado before she moved in 1976 to Los Angeles. While there, her interest in Latin American music grew.
36. She began experimenting with different kinds of vocal music, and finally decided to pursue a career as a singer.
37. She met Eduardo del Barrio, toured with his group Caldera, and sang in Billy Childs' jazz band, Night Flight.
38. Later, she toured with Sérgio Mendes.
39. From 1983 until 1986, Reeves toured with Harry Belafonte as a lead singer. This period saw her first experiences with world music.
40. She played the jazz singer in Good Night, and Good Luck.
41. In 1987, Reeves was the first vocalist signed to the re-activated Blue Note/EMI label.
42. In 1992, Reeves moved from Los Angeles back to Denver, where she still lives.
43. She sang at the closing ceremony of the2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
44. Reeves' musical director and arranger, Peter Martin, regularly tours with her.
45. On May 22, 2015, Reeves received an honorary doctoratefrom The Juilliard School in New York City.
46. In 2015 she won Grammy Award for Beautiful Life.
47. Her filmography includes Dianne Reeves "Live in Montreal" (Montreal International Jazz Festival 2000).
48. Her filmography also includes Dianne Reeves: The Early Years with Billy Childs and Snooky Young.
49. She has to date won five Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for her albums.
50. She is the only singer to have won this Grammy three consecutive albums.
Source: diannereeves.com/, Wikipedia.org
