Dee Dee Bridgewater – Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959) To Billie with Love from Dee Dee

Note: CD Cover Coming _ T.U.M.S.

Advance Review: CD Available in 2010

Dee Dee Bridgewater – Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959) To Billie with Love from Dee Dee

Billie Holiday’s musical legacy is so memorable despite the tragic circumstances she surrounded herself with.  Many musicians and singers from various genres of life have paid homage from Ethiopian born soul singer Wayna to jazz/pop vocalist Rosemary Clooney to Archie Shepp.   But within that scope of tributes which are all well meaning, Dee Dee Bridgewater is quite familiar with the artist also named Lady Day.  This multi-talented singer and actress recreated Holliday’s life in a one-woman show based on the singer’s autobiography Lady Sings The Blues – appropriately entitled Lady Day.  By the time she completed her two-year period on this exhausting play, Dee Dee became more immersed in Holliday’s expressive voice that was compared to a jazz instrument.  For her stunning performance, she earned the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress. This time without trying to recreate Holiday’s persona, she spins her own intricacies and fine-tuned voice dedicated to a jazz, pop and blues legend gone way too soon.  This singer/actress who has already recorded discs featuring the music of Ella (Fitzgerald) & pianist Horace Silver decides to enter into this tribute, Eleanora Fagan To Billie with Love from Dee Dee, from her own vocal point of view.  While some dote on the dark side of Holiday’s personal and sometimes professional life, Dee Dee believes this should be strictly a celebration of Lady Day’s unique musical treasures.   

Now a bit more about Dee Dee.  The Memphis-born talent has been praised as one of jazz’s best modern day voices.  Her role as Lady Day is just a slice of what she has accomplished since her childhood.  From her tenure as lead vocalist of an influential big band to interpreting melodies from Africa and France, Dee Dee has an intuitive sense in breathing excitement with every note.   Born Denise Garrett, she was exposed to plenty of jazz, thanks to her trumpeter father who played as a side man around the Memphis area.  One of her icons was Nancy Wilson, another modern jazz vocal master who she tried to emulate.  While attending the University of Illinois in Champaign, her breakthrough began in the late sixties when she was invited to join the schools’ jazz ensemble.  The following year, she met her first husband – trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater.  After they toured together with the jazz band to the Soviet Union, they headed to New York City in search of professional exposure.  From there, Dee Dee’s jazz star began to rise, starting as the vocalist with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band.  She has graced the musical stage throughout her stellar career such as The Wiz, and has the distinct honor of being the first African-American female to portray Sally Bowles in Cabaret.  Dee Dee eventually returned to her first love after a period of recording contemporary jazz/pop.  In the mid-eighties, she moved to France realizing an audience of many diehard jazz fans.  Of course, she was a much respected jazz vocalist all over Europe and in the Far East where she once toured with in a band including trumpeter Clark Terry.  In showing her appreciation for world music, her previous two discs: J’aiDeux Amours (2005) featuring mostly French pop songs (including twosongs recorded African-American French resident Josephine Baker) & Red Earth: A Malian Journey (2007) a stroke of genius weaving acoustic jazz and African musical roots.

Eleanora Fagan To Billie With Love from Dee Dee gives back a whole lot of love without question.  Dee Dee’s vocal sculptures, whether caressing, tantalizing or powerful, is backed by her long-time musical director, pianist Edel Gomez.  Gomez’s arrangements also takes full advantage of the remarkable reeds man James Carter and one of the best rhythm sections in jazz today:Christian McBride and Lewis Nash.   In all honesty, all tracks are worth the listener’s time and money.  Here are all the track listings:

1)  Lady Sings The Blues – African polyrhythms are mixed with a cool jazz groove.

2)  All of Me – This is one of several tracks where Dee Dee shows off her crisp scatting abilities.

3)  Good Morning Headache – This version of Holliday’s signature tune gives arare opportunity to hear a bass clarinet, delivered with finesse byCarter.

4)  Lover Man – Gomez’s solo work simply glides along on this gentle waltz.

5)  You’ve Changed – Carter’s explosive tenor sax work is on display.

6)  Miss Brown To Me – This swinging piece provides a spotlight for Nash’s classy drum solo while Dee Dee cheers him on: “Nash it to me.”

7)  Don’t Explain – What woodwind has Carter not played?  His alto flute is an absolutely exquisite match with Dee Dee’s aching bluesy tone.

8)  Fine & Mellow – There’s plenty of musical flirtation between Dee Dee& Carter while Gomez’s piano and Carter start their own littleflirtation on the side.  One of the most charismatic blues performances I have experienced in recent memory. 

9)  Mother’s Son-In-Law – Dee Dee has some fun, thanks to the nimble accompaniment and soloing by McBride on this rarely heard tune from Holliday’s career.

10) God Bless The Child – All I can say is Dee Dee & Carter takes us to church.

11) Foggy Day -I swear Dee Dee is channeling a bit of Louis (Armstrong) during another scat sequence.

12) Strange Fruit -This haunting, sparse arrangement puts the focus on a deeply poignant reading by Dee Dee.

With her stirring tribute to Eleanora Fagan, Dee Dee continues to build her own modern jazz legacy.  Overall, I rate this with a several thumbs up.

Peggy Oliver

The Urban Music Scene