"But even though she has also recorded this material for her recent album Elemental, Bridgewater is not really in the mood. I just don't feel like it's the time to be doing love songs and whimsical songs from the 1920s and 30s, she says. They're beautiful, but there's some kind of spirit and energy pushing me to sing songs saying: people, we have to protect our democracy."
"Bridgewater is one of American jazz's foremost voices. Capable of crooning and confronting, the two-time Grammy winner has a career that spans six decades and has never stopped evolving. She cut her teeth sharing the stage with several of jazz's greatest band leaders Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon before branching out into acting; singing pop and disco; and working out of France, the UK and Mali, always with a determination to create on her own terms."
"It will be heard at this week's London jazz festival, where Bridgewater is backed by We Exist!, an all-female band she founded to promote women in jazz. I got tired of hearing jazz musicians saying the same old chauvinistic crap and keeping women out, she says. I decided to put together an all-female band as a statement that the jazz world is still very macho."
Dee Dee Bridgewater prepares for a concert in Des Moines, performing selections from the Great American Songbook while having recorded that material for her album Elemental. She resists singing love songs now, feeling a spirit pushing her to perform songs urging people to protect democracy. She is a two-time Grammy winner whose six-decade career includes collaborations with Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie and Dexter Gordon, plus work in acting, pop, disco and international projects in France, the UK and Mali. At 75 she projects energy, idealism and anger, cites 1960s activism and daily encounters with racism, and founded We Exist!, an all-female band to challenge jazz chauvinism.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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