Over the course of a multi-faceted career spanning four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater occupies the upper echelon of vocalists. The two-time Grammy winner joins the Bill Charlap Trio as a special guest with trumpeter Nicholas Payton on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024 at the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival (JCIJBF) in High Point, NC.
Dee Dee Bridgewater
JAZZ FOR THE AGES
Ever the fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, Bridgewater is known for putting her own unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. During her career, Bridgewater’s work has received eight Grammy Award nominations. She won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album twice; for Dear Eleanor Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee and for the 1997 tribute to Ella Fitzgerald titled Dear Ella.
Bridgewater earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, and throughout the 70’s she performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. After a foray into the pop world during the 1980s, she relocated to Paris and began to turn her attention back to Jazz.
JOYFUL JOURNEY
Bridgewater began self-producing with her 1993 album Keeping Tradition and created DDB Records in 2006 when she signed with the Universal Music Group as a producer. She produces all of her own CDs. Her catalog consists of a series of critically-acclaimed titles, all but one of which have received Grammy nominations; including Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver, J’ai Deux Amour, Red Earth: A Malian Journey and her most recent, Memphis…Yes, I’m Ready.
Bridgewater also pursued a parallel career in musical theater, winning a Tony Award for her role as “Glinda” in The Wiz in 1975. Having recently completed a run as the lead role of Billie Holiday in the off-Broadway production of Lady Day, her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen, Cabaret and the Off-Broadway and West End Productions of Lady Day, for which Bridgewater received the British Laurence Olivier Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
Bridgewater launched The Woodshed Network, a non-profit partnership created to mentor, connect, support, and educate women in Jazz. In 2023, Bridgewater oversaw the 4th year of The Woodshed Network program and can be found touring worldwide with her Dee Dee Bridgewater Big Band, Quartet, and in duo with Grammy-winning pianist Bill Charlap.
