Jazz artist brings her ‘music for the people’
It’s been six or seven years since Grammy-award winning Dianne Reeves set foot in Wellington but there’s one thing she remembers.
‘‘I recall it being extraordinarily windy.’’ That didn’t put her off however and now she’s back to take part in the Wellington Jazz Festival.
‘‘This is actually my first time performing with my own band, performing my own music [in Wellington]. This is an opportunity to get to know a new audience so we’ll play maybe a few things from past records, new things we’ve been working on.’’
The renowned jazz vocalist grew up surrounded by music, saying her family played great records.
‘‘Coming up in the 60s and 70s, there was all the great music of motown, a lot of the new funk-type artists, Sly and the Family Stone. It was an exciting time.’’
The music of the era was ‘‘without boundaries and very message-oriented’’.
She used to frequent record stores when she was younger and found a rich experience in exploring different genres. ’’When you walked into a music store, you generally didn’t look in terms of genre, you looked under A, B, C and D.’’
She’s taken her love of music through life, performing with the likes of the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic.
She even made the silver screen, featuring in Good Night and Good Luck, a George Clooney film that was nominated for six Academy Awards.
Reeves has taken home five Grammys, most recently in 2015 with her album Beautiful Life.
On June 9 she’ll be performing alongside Peter Martin, Romero Lubambo, Reginald Veal and Terreon Gully.
Most often she hears people think jazz and her style of music isn’t for them.
‘‘I hear a lot of people say ‘I’ve never been to a jazz festival, I thought it wasn’t for me, my friends brought me.’ Then they love it.’’
‘‘They think it’s very complex and unreachable or something but it’s people music, it’s for the people. There’s something for the head, for the heart and something for the feet.’’
See Dianne Reeves 8pm, June 9 at the Opera House. Tickets start at $59.