| Summary: | "Yes, that's jazz," comments the singer and pianist Diane Schuur between songs; yes, it is indeed a reading of high quality and great purity of jazz that this artist, too little known in our country, highlights. Diane Schuur, who has collaborated with no less than the Mel Lewis Big Band and the Count Basie Orchestra, and is in line with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan or Anita O'Day; even Dinah Washington could be her model even if it is not obvious from this concert. Diane Schuur, whose nickname is Deedles, was born in 1953, blind from birth, and is indeed an outstanding vocalist who could hold her own against any of the artists whom the record companies "sell" us today. The characteristics of her vocal art? They can be summed up in a few phrases that revolve around fabulous accuracy, steady tempos, fluidity of speech, perfect articulation. With a mischievous, even cheeky air, she improvises in scat, begins breathtaking dialogues with the instrumentalists, her voice becoming the equal of an instrument. For this concert, she dedicates herself to a repertoire of fifteen songs, culminating in the highly enjoyable duet with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson on the two standards "Just Friends" and "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)." Philippe Lesage.
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