Dianne Reeves

Dianne Reeves

MY FAVORITE THINGS
Dianne Reeves
One listen to Dianne Reeves's In the Moment -- Live in Concert and it's obvious that this remarkable singer and riveting performer has absorbed plenty of diverse music. Essaying songs from all over the stylistic map, including work by Cole Porter, Milton Nascimento, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Cat Stevens, as well as her own pungent originals, Reeves mingles elements of jazz, R&B, pop, and world music throughout her arrangements. Ted Panken of Barnes & Noble.com spoke with this electrifying eclectic about her wide musical tastes.

Barnes & Noble.com: When did you first start taking music seriously?

DR: The way all of this started was in the early '70s. I wasn't singing before that, just listening to the music around the house. When I was in junior high school, bussing had just really started here in Denver, Colorado. I had a great teacher who felt that the best way to bring all of these students together, who would have no other contact other than this bussing situation, would be through music. At the time, the music was very uplifting and hopeful. There were all these kinds of songs, like "You've Got a Friend," "Bridge over Troubled Water," "Let It Be," "He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother." All these songs that were to unite people. At the same time, black radio had just come into view here, and so we had access to the Supremes, all the Motown music. At the time, there were two artists who really were my favorite, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.

Barnes & Noble.com: Can you name some favorite recordings?

DR: Well, my favorite recording of all time is What's Going On The first time I heard that record, I'd never heard anything like it. It was brilliant, it was new, it was different, and it talked about issues that were like right here at home. Because at that time, there were a lot of people coming home from Vietnam, and there were a lot of things that were going on in the community that this music really related to. So that would be the first record -- Marvin Gaye.

Barnes & Noble.com: How about Stevie Wonder?

DR: With Stevie Wonder, I felt that all his lyrics were always directly related to something specifically, and they had a spiritual connotation or a life quality. There was never a problem with him celebrating, you know, whatever new musical element came into his life or that he was excited about. He was never bound to, it seemed like, any kind of category. He was -- and is -- very broad in his expression. Talking Book was a favorite.

Barnes & Noble.com: Were their other people that you absorbed in any way stylistically?

DR: The Impressions, when Curtis Mayfield was part of the Impressions. There weren't really albums; we bought 45's at the time. So the one song "We're a Winner," that was really good. So between Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield, they were like real storytellers, and they seemed like they wrote music around the lyrics. They used to talk-sing their lyrics. It would be almost like a conversation. That really stuck with me. And a lot of the ways that I write lyrics are like that, and even the way that I perform onstage has a lot to do with them.

Barnes & Noble.com: That said, you became an extremely proficient and idiomatic singer in what almost anyone would think of as jazz. There are references I can certainly hear of Sarah Vaughan and people like that.

DR: Now, when my uncle realized that I could sing, he wanted me to know about jazz. So he started bringing records over, things from Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Dakota Staton. But then he brought this record that Sarah Vaughan did (which was the first record I ever heard of hers) of Michel Legrand tunes, called Sarah Vaughan Sings Michel Legrand. I had never heard a voice do those kinds of things. I'd never heard that many colors in a voice. Here I was, this young, young girl, and I was listening to Sarah, going, "I think I have colors like that." Well, maybe not even able to articulate it like that. But there was something about her that gave me license. Even in that one record of singing all of Legrand's songs, I heard so many things that you could do with your voice. So that was really the start for me. I loved her. I started buying records, older records, newer records, records like Snowbound, At Mister Kelly's, different things.

Barnes & Noble.com: Were you also influenced by the rock and pop music of the era?

DR: I heard {|Abraxas|}, Santana's record, and I'd never heard anything like that. Then there was Lydia Pence, who sang with a group called Cold Blood. The music at that time was steeped in the blues, but at the same time it had really nice arrangements and harmonies... I just liked it. Another record that really set me on fire was an album {|Roberta Flack|} made with Donny Hathaway. It had amazing songs on there -- "For All We Know" and "You've Got a Friend" and "I Who Have Nothing" and various other things.

Barnes & Noble.com: Was fusion important to you?

DR: Ursula Dudziak had this album called Papaya, and here she was doing all of these amazing things with her voice. That was an inspiration. Another singer of the Fusion time who was singing with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke was Flora Purim. She brought this Brazilian influence. So here I am living in Denver, listening to Stories To Tell, and once again, I'd never heard anything like that. So it was opening doors. I would have to say the next step from that was Chaka Khan and Rufus --any of those early records -- and Bill Withers. Again it came back to the storytelling.

Barnes & Noble.com: Do you have some serious gospel influences?

DR: Basically, my mother was a big fan of Mahalia Jackson, so we would listen to records that she had recorded. My father, on the other hand, loved jazz, so we were always listening to different things. Then I was listening to a lot of classic records by Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, and Billie Holiday -- who I got much later; I didn't get her immediately.

Barnes & Noble.com: What are some of Holiday's songs that finally reached you?

DR: I'll tell you the Billie Holiday tunes that really blew me away. "Comes Love," "Some Other Spring," and "We'll Be Together Again." Carmen McRae is a great storyteller, and there's an arrangement Norman Simmons did for her of "Yesterdays" that is just cold-blooded. I love that. And "Like a Lover," which I also love. She did so many songs that were so beautiful.

Barnes & Noble.com: What are you listening to these days?

DR: Actually, right now I'm listening to a lot of African music. I'm listening to Richard Bona's new record, Scenes From My Life, which is really great. I go back and listen to a lot of different records that Salif Keita did, starting with Soro. Also Peter Martin's record The Answer. Claudia Acuna, a great singer from Chile -- Wind From the South.But basically I'm listening right now to a lot of Sarah stuff because of the tribute record that I'm going to record. Some of the best sessions that she did were with Benny Carter. I love those sessions.

Barnes & Noble.com: You mean the Roulette sessions from '61.

DR: Yeah, those are great. It's interesting, because on these she sings really straight. There's one that I really love called In The City Of Lights. That's a live in Paris recording. It's great because I like listening to her live. Of course, Sassy Swings the Tivoli; that's one of my favorites. After Hours is great. Some of the Brazilian things. One of my favorite records she did is the one that Sergio Mendes produced, Brazilian Romance.