''Live in Paris'' is a 1987 live album by American jazz singer

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...

. With this album, Bridgewater copped a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nomination in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female.

Background

Produced by Jean-Pierre Grosz and

, Live In Paris was recorded on 24–25 November 1986, at Paris' New Morning jazz club. The album was initially released in France via Just'In Distribution and eventually in Europe via

Charly Records Charly Records is a British record label that specialises in reissued material. Among the labels whose original releases are reissued by Charly are Vee-Jay, Sun, Immediate, BYG, Tomato, and Fania. History Charly Records was founded in Fran ...

. In 1989

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

released the album in the US on their Impulse! vanity label. During the 1990s, the album was digitally remastered and reissued on

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

Critical reception

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote: "This 1986 recording started her artistic "comeback" and showed that she had developed and matured during her years in Europe. Backed by her regular French rhythm section, Bridgewater is in spirited and creative form.... Her arrival as a major singer in the years since this set has been a welcome event. Recommended." Jeff Simon of ''

The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. On January 29, 2020, th ...

'' noted, "Terrific. Until a whole new wave of singers came along in the '80s, expatriate Bridgewater was one of the precious few keeping alive the tradition of jazz song... Living in Paris has done her good. She has -- literally -- never been better than this." ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' praised the album, saying, "Backed by an adept French trio, she extracts new nuances from

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

' "All Blues" and "

Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first re ...

's "Misty," scats up a storm on

Ray Noble Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 3 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United S ...

's "Cherokee" and belts out "Dr. Feelgood" and "Stormy Monday" with enough vigor and sensuality to give

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter. Starting her career in 1954, James frequently performed in Nashville's R&B clubs, collectively known as the Ch ...

a run for her money. By doing so, Bridgewater has produced what may well be the best female jazz vocal album of the year." Jack Fuller of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' stated: "Here`s one for the permanent collection. Dee Dee Bridgewater has what only a few jazz singers each generation has-the ideas, the energy and the vocal equipment to make the music complete. Bridgewater delivers on everything from the

standard, '

Misty In cryptography, MISTY1 (or MISTY-1) is a block cipher designed in 1995 by Mitsuru Matsui and others for Mitsubishi Electric. MISTY1 is one of the selected algorithms in the European NESSIE project, and has been among the cryptographic tech ...

,' to the down and dirty ' Dr. Feelgood' and 'Medley Blues.' And when she improvises, it has just the right balance of reference and innovaton. The references may be to

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretati ...

, and

Betty Carter Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative inter ...

, but you'd better think of adding Dee Dee Bridgewater to the short list of standards." George Varga of ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' called ''Live in Paris'' one of 1989's best jazz albums.

Track listing

Personnel

Band *Dee Dee Bridgewater – vocals *Hervé Sellin – piano *Antoine Bonfils – bass *

André Ceccarelli André "Dédé" Ceccarelli (born 5 January 1946) is a French jazz drummer. Biography After learning to play the drums from his father, Ceccarelli started out playing in the salons of the Hotel Royal Nice Promenade des Anglais at the age of fi ...

– drums Production *Jean-Pierre Grosz – producer *Jean-Pierre Gouache – recording engineer *Jean-Louis Bucchi – mixing

References

External links

* {{Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater live albums 1987 live albums