Dee Dee Bridgewater & The Memphis Soulphony – Memphis Yes I’m Ready…

Opening act: Davina and The Vagabonds

Dee Dee Bridgewater presents a revolutionary reinterpretation of American blues and R&B classics, pouring out all the intelligence and power of a jazz diva with an undeniable soulful sensibility. Accompanied by Memphis Soulphony, Bridgewater pays thrilling tribute to a musical legacy she helped forge.

Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. Ever the fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three- time Grammy-winner recently won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie WithLove From Dee Dee.

Bridgewater’s career has always bridged musical genres. She earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band, and throughout the 70s 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. Signing with the Universal Music Group as a producer (Bridgewater produces all of her CDs), Bridgewater released a series of critically acclaimed titles beginning with Keeping Tradition in 1993. All but one, including her wildly successful double Grammy Award-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Dear Ella, have received Grammy nominations.

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.

For information and tickets: www.placedesarts.com  514-842-2112 or 1-866-842-2112

Jazz FestRanked as the world’s largest jazz festival by Guinness World Records, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal has been synonymous with a passion for music for close to four decades. Every year, the metropolis welcomes global music fans to 10 days of jazz-centric celebration, where fans of all types of jazz-related music rub shoulders with aficionados of the genre in its purest form. The 39th edition of the Festival continues on its mission to offer a vast program with over 500 concerts – 2/3 of them free – presented over 10 days and nights on 20 stages, on a site closed to vehicular traffic. A true haven of happiness and musical pleasure right in the heart of downtown Montreal! From June 28 to July 7, hundreds of thousands of people will cross the threshold of the world’s largest jazz festival to set themselves free to the rhythms and melodies of music. From small intimate salons to immense open-air concerts, from major icons to young prodigies on the rise, artists from the world over to homegrown talents, the Festival assembles and showcases the entire spectrum of possibilities to keep music vibrant and alive!

Check out the full festival line-up at www.montrealjazzfest.com