Diggin’ Her New Hometown

Dee Dee Bridgewater is a vocal powerhouse

BY GERALDINE WYCKOFF

Three-time Grammy winner, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater leads her own bands, has played with countless jazz legends and continues to perform concerts around the world. Yet considering her very impressive resume, she’s nonetheless particularly eager about her appearance at the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

“I’m really excited to be doing the festival this year because it has a bigger meaning for me because I’m now a resident of the city,” declares Bridgewater who, come May, has called the Crescent City her home for seven years. “I’m going to be able to show my musicians and sound engineer [from New York] around when they fly in.

“I’m happy to be invited back,” says Bridgewater, who first played the Fest in 1996 teamed with saxophonist David Sanchez in support of her 1995 album, Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver on which the great pianist and composer performed and, perhaps surprisingly, wrote lyrics for his songs. “Horace was very, very important in my life and my first husband, Cecil Bridgewater, a trumpet player, played with him for many years.”

She returned to Jazz Fest on three other occasions and performed at Essence Festival in 2012. At the Fair Grounds, Bridgewater will head her working trio with New Orleans’ own, bassist Amina Scott, pianist and music director Carmen Staaf and drummer Shirazette Tinnin who hail from New York.

“I was just looking for a place to live where I could rest my hat, so to speak,” says Bridgewater whose home is on the West Bank. “I’ve always enjoyed New Orleans whenever I’d come. I love the history of music with jazz having its beginnings here.

Bridgewater was born in Memphis, Tennessee although as a toddler her family moved to Flint, MARK

Michigan. “I have always had a place in my heart for the south so that was one of the things that entered into my moving here,” she acknowledges. “I had thought about moving to Memphis as well, but I just felt a little more connection to New Orleans and I’d been here a few times and I had some people that I knew here. So, it just seemed like the logical move for me. And Memphis, honestly, is a little bit behind, culturally speaking. I just didn’t feel the culture was as rich in Memphis as it is here. And the food is fabulous.”

The vocalist and actress, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in the theater production of “The Wiz,” was exposed to jazz early in life as her father was a trumpeter and also a deejay with the hip handle Matt the Platter Cat. The first album that she could call her own was by crooner Johnny Mathis. “Somebody threw it out,” she explains with a laugh, adding that she was also a fan of Harry Belafonte. “That’s what my sister and I would do. We would go up and down the street to see if anybody was throwing out old LPs.”

The repertoire for her Jazz Fest set remains up in the air though she promises some material to honor the recently-passed masters pianist Chick Corea and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. “I worked with them and was friends with them. They were wonderful human beings. I’ll talk to the ladies and see what they feel comfortable with.” One might expect her to also include a taste of her 1997 Grammywinning album Dear Ella, which is, of course, a tribute to the magnificent Ella Fitzgerald.

“Betty Carter is probably my biggest influence overall in terms of how I regard my music; how I deal with musicians and try to elevate young musicians by mentoring. Like Betty, I also own my label, DDB Records.” Others Bridgewater includes as influential are vocalist, pianist and composer Nina Simone, primarily for her “political and social awareness and activism.” “I loved that Miles [trumpeter Miles Davis] was ever-changing and I’ve tried to tear a page out of his book and always do different projects so that I couldn’t be pigeon- holed into any one category.”

Bridgewater’s experience and abilities as an actress are reflected in the dramatic energy she brings to the stage as a vocalist. “There should be something to engage your audience, so the audience feels like it’s really part of the show,” she explained in a 2012 interview. “I love to interpret the songs and bring the stories that I’m telling to life. “I love movement; I love to move on the stage, and I like to make people laugh.”

Since moving here, Bridgewater, who rarely performs in New Orleans, has dived into this city’s myriad of musical and cultural activities.

“Well, yeah, I’m trying to be all up in the New Orleans culture,” she enthusiastically says, describing her plans to do this year’s Uptown Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday. “I did Mardi Gras and I try and do the French Quarter Fest if I’m home. I try to participate in all kinds of stuff that’s going on because it’s such a fun city.”

“I’ve always had wonderful experiences at Jazz Fest,” she continues. “So much so that in 2018 I decided to just go to Jazz Fest as a spectator. I went every day and bought my tickets and stood in line like the rest of the folks. I found a nice little parking space. I had a girlfriend come down and we went from noon until it closed at seven. I’m telling you; it took me about a week to recover.”

In a bow to the city and its musical talents, she recorded a version of composer and pianist giant Allen Toussaint’s “It Ain’t Easy” that rings of this city’s rhythm and blues heritage.

“A shout out to New Orleans and to all of the New Orleanians,” Bridgewater joyfully expresses. “I hope I’m going to see my neighbors and some of my new friends that I’ve made down here. So, I’m looking forward to it”.

“I love that festival. I love the way it’s laid out on the Fair Grounds and all of the different tents and stages and the arts and crafts and all of the food and everything. It’s just rich, rich, rich. I think it’s one of the best festivals in the States—in the world.” O