Uno straordinario articolo su Dee Dee Bridgewater è stato pubblicato dallo scrittore e giornalista Larry Blumenfeld, sul Wall Street Journal di qualche giorno fa e ripreso sul blog dello stesso scrittore. L'articolo si concentra sul prossimo album della cantante intitolato To Billie With Love From Dee Dee, e prova in maniera estremamente brillante a tracciare un paragone tra le due grandi interpreti.
Ms. Bridgewater has considerable experience with daring to be a Billie Holiday, much of it literal. She earned critical acclaim in Paris in 1986 and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination the following year in London for her portrayal of Holiday in Stephen Stahl's play "Lady Day." "I was possessed," she said. "I would take my first step onto the stage and could feel her take over." Ms. Bridgewater can do a dead-on impersonation of Holiday--she briefly eased in and out of Holiday's drawn-out phrasing and playful intonation over the phone for me--but that was never the point.
Holiday's story, not her singing, first captivated Ms. Bridgewater. "When I was a teenager, I believed that to be a jazz singer you had to scat and sing like Ella Fitzgerald or Betty Carter," she said, "and you needed to have range. We all know that Billie did not have an extensive vocal range."
But Ms. Bridgewater had read "Lady Sings the Blues," Holiday's 1956 autobiography, co-written with William Dufty, on which Mr. Stahl's play was based. "I was struck by a lot of things that I could relate to or had experienced, including abuse," she said. "And I began to understand how she ended up growing into the person she grew into, what her singing meant."
By the time she was cast as Holiday, Ms. Bridgewater had developed a deepened appreciation of Holiday's rhythmic and expressive gifts as a singer. And she sought something beyond the tragic storyline. She had easy access to good sources: She'd debuted in 1970 with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis band, which included her then-husband Cecil Bridgewater, and performed throughout that decade with jazz standard-bearers including Max Roach and Sonny Rollins. Through musicians such as trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, she heard firsthand recollections. She acquired cassettes documenting private moments. "I learned that Billie was a very funny woman, with a dry sense of humor," she recalled, "who loved to talk dirty and would cook for her fellow musicians."
Now, at 59, the prospect of a Broadway revival of Mr. Stahl's play prompted Ms. Bridgewater to envision a two-disc set: one evoking the play's era, the late 1950s; the other a celebratory tribute in the here-and-now. When the recession put the play on hold, she scaled down to the latter idea. The result sounds bold, varied, modern and complete. Ms. Bridgewater's performance style is often wildly extroverted, spanning a broad emotional and musical range; it is in many ways the polar opposite of Holiday's finely focused presence and introverted demeanor. On the new CD, though Ms. Bridgewater flecks a lyric or two with Holiday's timbre or phrasing, her singing is never imitative, often reflective of musical liberties Holiday never took.
"I wanted to capture Billie's spirit," she said, "as channeled through the woman and the musician I am today." She turned first to pianist Edsel Gomez, with whom she has worked for seven years, and then enlisted bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, and James Carter, who excels equally on a variety of reed instruments. She asked Mr. Gomez to create musical contexts for 12 songs strongly associated with Holiday, more loose-limbed musical frameworks than tight arrangements......
Sul blog dello scrittore è possibile leggere l'articolo in versione integrale.
Ecco il video di Dee Dee Bridgewater che presenta Polkadots and Moonbeams, con The Italian Big Band.
Ms. Bridgewater has considerable experience with daring to be a Billie Holiday, much of it literal. She earned critical acclaim in Paris in 1986 and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination the following year in London for her portrayal of Holiday in Stephen Stahl's play "Lady Day." "I was possessed," she said. "I would take my first step onto the stage and could feel her take over." Ms. Bridgewater can do a dead-on impersonation of Holiday--she briefly eased in and out of Holiday's drawn-out phrasing and playful intonation over the phone for me--but that was never the point.
Holiday's story, not her singing, first captivated Ms. Bridgewater. "When I was a teenager, I believed that to be a jazz singer you had to scat and sing like Ella Fitzgerald or Betty Carter," she said, "and you needed to have range. We all know that Billie did not have an extensive vocal range."
But Ms. Bridgewater had read "Lady Sings the Blues," Holiday's 1956 autobiography, co-written with William Dufty, on which Mr. Stahl's play was based. "I was struck by a lot of things that I could relate to or had experienced, including abuse," she said. "And I began to understand how she ended up growing into the person she grew into, what her singing meant."
By the time she was cast as Holiday, Ms. Bridgewater had developed a deepened appreciation of Holiday's rhythmic and expressive gifts as a singer. And she sought something beyond the tragic storyline. She had easy access to good sources: She'd debuted in 1970 with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis band, which included her then-husband Cecil Bridgewater, and performed throughout that decade with jazz standard-bearers including Max Roach and Sonny Rollins. Through musicians such as trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, she heard firsthand recollections. She acquired cassettes documenting private moments. "I learned that Billie was a very funny woman, with a dry sense of humor," she recalled, "who loved to talk dirty and would cook for her fellow musicians."
Now, at 59, the prospect of a Broadway revival of Mr. Stahl's play prompted Ms. Bridgewater to envision a two-disc set: one evoking the play's era, the late 1950s; the other a celebratory tribute in the here-and-now. When the recession put the play on hold, she scaled down to the latter idea. The result sounds bold, varied, modern and complete. Ms. Bridgewater's performance style is often wildly extroverted, spanning a broad emotional and musical range; it is in many ways the polar opposite of Holiday's finely focused presence and introverted demeanor. On the new CD, though Ms. Bridgewater flecks a lyric or two with Holiday's timbre or phrasing, her singing is never imitative, often reflective of musical liberties Holiday never took.
"I wanted to capture Billie's spirit," she said, "as channeled through the woman and the musician I am today." She turned first to pianist Edsel Gomez, with whom she has worked for seven years, and then enlisted bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, and James Carter, who excels equally on a variety of reed instruments. She asked Mr. Gomez to create musical contexts for 12 songs strongly associated with Holiday, more loose-limbed musical frameworks than tight arrangements......
Sul blog dello scrittore è possibile leggere l'articolo in versione integrale.
Ecco il video di Dee Dee Bridgewater che presenta Polkadots and Moonbeams, con The Italian Big Band.
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