Women’s History Month Celebrates: Dianne Reeves

Hailed as the crème de la crème of Jazz Vocalists, Dianne Reeves is a force to be reckoned with. With 5 Grammy’s under her belt, and honorary Doctorates from Julliard and the Berklee College of Music NEA, Jazz Master Dianne Reeves she has done it all. Born in Detroit and raised in Denver, she got indoctrinated into music at an early age.

She hails from a musical family, her uncle is Charles Burrell, her cousin is George Duke, her mother was a trumpeter and her father sang.

At age 14 she started singing and playing the piano. She was a member of her high school band and  studied classical voice at the University of Colorado  before  moving to Los Angeles, where she sang with Stanley Turrentine and Lenny White. While she was performing at a convention in Chicago she was noticed by trumpeter Clark Terry, who invited her to sing with him: “He had these amazing all-star bands, but I had no idea who they all were! The thing I loved about it was the way they interacted with each other – the kind of intimate exchange that I wasn’t part of. For a young singer, it was fertile soil.” She once said of Terry.

After singing with Turrentine and White, she later would move on to join the Jazz Fusion group Caldera and, eventually with Billy Childs form her own group, Night Child.  

From 1983 to 1986 she toured with Harry Belafonte. And in 1987 she signed with Blue Note Records where she recorded several albums such as That Day, Never Too Far, and A Little Moonlight, just to mention a few.

Since she began recording as a leader in 1982 Dianne has become a regular at major jazz festivals. In 2018 she was the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Showcase Artist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4SRVmKvsfw