Diane Schuur: Q & A

After her concert at Blues Alley on Saturday night, Diane Schuur spoke with me about life and music. See my review (posted earlier) for more details on the performance.

It’s been 10 years since you’ve been back at Blues Alley—does it feel good to be back?

Oh, absolutely. It’s wonderful to have such an attentive and yet enthusiastic crowd. When you get the combination of that, it’s very cool.

What’s one of your most memorable experiences from this tour?

I went to Salerno, and performed with one of the best bands I’ve ever worked with in my life. They came from all over Italy to perform with me.

I also did a master class there, which was really interesting, for 25 students, and I took them through the same tune, “Always,” that I took you all through. And it was really fun. And it’s so funny, but I just had a visual of doing that particular song, of having an audience participate. It’s kind of a unifying experience for everybody, to feel that they have participated. It’s kind of a love fest. It’s a very sweet song, and those songs just aren’t done that much anymore. Older people can go down memory lane with their spouses and younger people can be introduced to a previous era, so it serves dual purposes, you see? More than that, it serves multi-dimensional purposes, because a tune like that just really touches the soul.

Do you have any advice for young, aspiring jazz singers?

Well, Judge Judy has a wonderful piece of advice for people, and that is, put on your listening ears. And that’s one of the things that I did when I was a little girl, is put on my listening ears big time. Since I don’t have sight, I wasn’t distracted by a lot of things that other people would be. I would just say to young people, give it your all. Put everything you’ve got into the craft, and do it with feeling. Yeah, it’s okay to have the technique, but one of the things I’ve learned in my experience growing up in this business is critics were really quick to say, “Well it’s great, but the gymnastics, you know you don’t have to show everything off in one note.” And that’s what I’ve tried to learn through the years.

Stan Getz had a wonderful phrase, “less is more,” and that’s what I’ve really tried to do. I think this is one of the reasons I’m really jazzed about doing a country record, is every song tells a story. In fact, that’s what Charlie Parker said, you know, he says, “Hey man, every song tells a story.” That’s why he loved it, and that’s one of the reasons that I love it. [The country album] doesn’t mean I’m going to get away from jazz, it’s just that I need to get into a different market recording-wise. It’s just time. It’s going to be on Vanguard records, which is a pretty cool label. It’s going to be kind of like in the style that Ray Charles did when he did his country album [“Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music”]. Hey, if Ray could do it, why couldn’t the Deeds?

What happened there on “Bewitched”?

Hey man, I forgot the lyric, I mean, that was almost a train wreck in the middle of “Bewitched.”

But that’s what we do, that’s how we learn, that’s how we grow as artist. There is something to forgetting because we learn. And I meant it when I said, in my own experience, my husband’s starting to suffer from Alzheimer’s, he’s got Parkinson’s and prostate cancer. [Mr. White, Schuur’s manager] is one of the people that have really become a lifeline for me, in dealing with the situation. I’m really grateful.

Things happen, you know. It’s a drag, but you know at the same time, it’s like digging for pearls in the oyster; you’ve got to look for the pearls within the sand. That’s what I try to do. I’m finally getting some peace with it. It’s kind of like, well I’m a recovering alcoholic, and so I know the behaviors that go on with that. I’ve been sober now for 21 years. I quit coffee six days ago.

How’s that going?

I didn’t even get a headache. It’s so funny, I have what they call laryngeal reflux, probably from years of damaging my body with, you know, “tippin and trippin,” drinking and drugging and stuff. That catches up with you. Singers go through that, regardless of what they do, you know, they get older, and things start to break down. That’s exactly what’s happening to me. So I’ve got to do everything possible to preserve the instrument that I’ve got left.

Diane Schuur In Her Prime at Blues Alley

It had been ten years since Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Diane Schuur last played Blues Alley, and Saturday night marked her return to the historic Georgetown stage. The singer was in her prime as she delivered an artfully crafted set of classic jazz standards to a packed house who hung on her every ringing high note and emotive lyric.

The concert concluded a two-week November tour with dates in Bucharest, Romania, Catanzaro and Salerno, Italy and Syracuse, New York and finally Washington, D.C. None of the songs on the artist's 2008 album, “Some Other Time,” made it into her set. Instead, Schuur played a mix of songs that earned her international acclaim early in her career, such as her trademark “Deedles’ Blues,” recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1987, punctuated by well-loved standards such as “Bewitched” and “Autumn in New York.”

The set began with a rousing rendition of “Deedles,” with Schuur’s lyric resonating in the crowd: “Deedles is my name… I don’t know how I got here / But I’m mighty glad I came.” Schuur belted out one of her quintessential, perfectly pitched high notes to end the tune. On a dime, she transitioned to a slow, lyrical version of McCoy Tyner’s “You Taught My Heart To Sing.” Schuur offered a melodic, almost meditative solo, a refreshing example of scat singing in a ballad setting where most would opt to stick to the lyric.

The third tune, Chuck Mangione’s “Land of Make Believe,” showcased the band: Randy Porter on piano, Scott Stead on bass and Reggie Jackson on drums. Moving seamlessly between a samba feel, swing and out-of-time robato sections led by Schuur, the band eloquently framed the singer.

Perhaps the most exciting element of the show was the overwhelming sense that Schuur, now 56 years old, remains unapologetically and delightfully herself. Her matter-of-fact manner (“I guess we better do a ballad now”) and subtly self-deprecating humor (“I lost a few pounds—again”) made every audience member a fast friend. With her signature rhinestone-studded sunglasses glittering, the singer, who lost her sight at birth, invited the audience to sing Irving Berlin’s “Always” with her, saying, “It’s always better with your eyes closed.” Then, slyly, “I didn’t say what…”

Schuur took over for Porter on the last two songs of the set, accompanying herself on piano for “Bewitched” and “Louisiana Sunday Afternoon.” A few lines into the former, Schuur stopped abruptly, having forgotten the lyric. “Uh-oh,” she said. “I’ve got Jazzheimer’s disease.” The crowd laughed, Schuur found the lyric again, and the song carried on. Most didn’t catch the poignant undertones of the joke: her husband, Les Crocket, is currently suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

After the show, I spoke with Schuur about growing older, her advice to young singers and her upcoming country album, which she will be recording this December on Vanguard. “It’s a drag,” said the singer of her husband’s condition. “But you know at the same time, it’s like digging for pearls in the oyster, you’ve got to look for the pearls within the sand.”

Said Schuur of the blunder, “Hey man, I forgot the lyric. I mean that was almost a train wreck in the middle of ‘Bewitched.’ But that’s what we do, that’s how we learn, that’s how we grow as artists. There is something to forgetting because we learn.”

It's Not a Violin! A First Look at Christen Lien.

One of the artists I had the pleasure of meeting at the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit was Christen Lien, a recent West Coast transplant to the DC area.  Although she makes it clear that she plays a viola rather than a violin, her appeal to fans of strings and looping pedal wizards Andrew Bird and Final Fantasy/Owen Pallet is unmistakable.

Look forward to seeing more of her on the blog in coming weeks, but for now I'll leave you with the video for the opening track, Unabi, of her album Vol. 1 Battle Cry.  Set against the backdrop of Detroit's abandoned factories and Diego Rivera's towering "Detroit Industry" mural, the video serves as a haunting yet hopeful elegy to a once magnificent city.

Shane Hines CD Release Wednesday

After spending some time in Nashville, local singer/songwriter Shane Hines has returned with a new album that's a little more personal, a little more mature-sounding, and maybe even a little more country, than his previous efforts. All the Quiet, All the Chaos is well-thought out acoustic-flavored pop, with the occasional subtle notes of pop country arrangements.

Nashville's influence is noticeable on the slower country-tinged piano ballad “It’s Not Home,” with the swooping pedal steel and gorgeous harmonies on the big chorus. And the lead single "Leave It All Behind" is one tasty slice of catchy electric guitar pop. All the Quiet, All the Chaos is available on iTunes starting today, and Shane Hines has his CD release party at Jammin Java this Wednesday, November 10th at 7:30.

MP3: Leave It All Behind - Shane Hines