Dee Dee Bridgewater ranks among the finest jazz vocalists of her era, yet she only began to discover her true artistic path after relocating to France. In the 1960s she performed across Michigan and joined the University of Illinois Big Band for a 1969 tour of the Soviet Union. Between 1972 and 1974 she sang with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra, then took a role in the Broadway musical The Wiz from 1974 to 1976. Inconsistent releases and unclear artistic focus had left her largely overlooked in jazz circles by the time she settled in France during the 1980s. There she appeared in the production Lady Day, performed at European jazz festivals, and eventually assembled her own backup ensemble. Her Verve recordings from the late 1980s began to reintroduce her vocal talents to American listeners. The 1995 Horace Silver tribute Love and Peace stood out as a highlight and led to extensive U.S. tours that reconnected her with domestic audiences. Even greater recognition followed with the Grammy-winning 1997 tribute Dear Ella. On the 2002 release This Is New she interpreted Kurt Weill material, while 2005’s J’ai Deux Amours explored French classics. For 2010’s Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee she left Verve for Decca/Emarcy and delivered her versions of songs linked to Billie Holiday. August 2011 brought her second album for the label, the jazz-standards compilation Midnight Sun, which drew tracks from earlier projects ranging from “Angel Eyes” to Horace Silver’s “Lonely Woman.” In 2014 she produced and performed on trumpeter Theo Croker’s Afro Physicist. Dee Dee’s Feathers, issued in 2015, honored the musical heritage of New Orleans while marking the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The recording united Bridgewater with New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and included guest appearances by local figures such as keyboardist Dr. John and percussionist Bill Summers. In 2017 she returned to her birthplace of Memphis, Tennessee, on the album Memphis....Yes, I’m Ready, a collection of classic R&B, soul, and rock & roll numbers associated with other Memphis musicians. The sessions were captured at Royal Recorders in the Bluff City, the same studio where Al Green recorded many of his major hits.
