You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Talkin' Music With Dianne Reeves

Episode Date: October 23, 2022

Adam and Peter get a chance to talk music, emmys, and movies with Dianne Reeves. Want to learn more? Check out Dianne's OS course here.Some links to the topics in their discussions:Check out Sheryl Lee Ralph singing "Endangered Species" here.Dianne's album "Art and Survival" can be found here. Look into "The Women King" here. Watch Dianne with Roy Hargrove playing "You go to my head" here. Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open StudioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Diane Reeves is the preeminent jazz vocalist of our time, but her artistry goes far beyond the confines of just jazz. Diane is a composer, lyricist, bandleader, a voice and spokesperson for our music. In N.A. Jazz Master, a doctor of fine arts from the Juilliard, an open studio artist, a five-time Grammy winner, a co-star with George Clooney in the multiple Academy Award-winning film, Good Night and Good Luck, and many, many, many other. accolades, but perhaps most importantly, she is my dear friend and musical compatriot of 25 plus years. Please welcome Diane Reeves. Hey. Hey. That was good.

Thank you. Wow. Welcome, Diane. You know, after many, many years of you introducing me on stage and me occasionally introducing you on stage, probably like one to a thousand ratio. I wanted to try to bring it. So I'm so glad you took a few minutes out of your busy schedule to talk to. to us here on the pod.

Yeah, we all busy. It seems like, you know, but I'm here. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. So does this find you back in your home in Denver? I know that you've been moving around some lately. Yeah, I've been moving around a lot, getting ready to get out of here tomorrow for the first annual jazz awards that will be happening down in Atlanta.

So I'm really excited about going there and being a part of kicking that off because it's greatly needed. And then after that, I just continue moving. Nice, nice. Yeah, I look forward to hearing about that. I've been hearing great things about the preparation for that. And I think that's going to be a cool thing. So one thing, I was thinking, like, we could talk about, you know, different phases of your career.

I think everybody is so well aware of many different aspects. You've done so much and you have so much more to do and you're always doing a lot of things. But just recently, there's been a lot of stuff going on. And I want to talk about Shirley Ralph singing Endangered Species at the Emmys because that kind of thrust you, you know, out there again from a song that you wrote. That was like, was that early 90s, mid 90s? I mean, it's been around. That was 1994. That was the most, that was a wild experience, you know.

So I understand what people say when they, you know, when their stuff, you know, takes off on the social media. That was, and that was just a little bit of what I've seen people experience. But yeah, I didn't even get to see it. As a matter of fact, I was shopping, and Terry Lynn Carrington called me up. She said, you're on the Emmys. I was like, no, I'm not at home. Just saying, endangered species. I was like, what?

So I ran home, and of course, it was live, so I missed it. But, of course, Twitter never fails. So I went on Twitter, and I saw the whole thing, and I was just totally blown away. Wow. She's always liked that song. And she's always sung it. And I've done, she has this thing that she does every day, every year. Div is simply sing.

And it, you know, it's for health, women's health. And so, you know, she's always sung it. But, I mean, I never would have thought that. And then when that happened, my phone just for about three days was just on fire. Yeah. Well, it was the moment of the show. It was. It really was such a special moment.

I wonder if you could tell us about the or. origin of writing the song. You said it's from a 1994 album. What's the Genesis like? Well, the album was called Art and Survival. And I was really, you know, in a place where I was like art and survival. That's why it was called that. And I, it was a record that I did that I thought at that time that maybe this might be the end of my career. But I wanted to say all the things that I needed to say and, you know, if that was the end, at least people know who I am and what I was about. I mean, it didn't end up that way, but when you're young, you think things are going to end. So, but I was really, really happy, you know, to do that record. It was produced by Eddie Del Vario

and myself, and, you know, it was a wild experience, and that was one of the songs that was on art and survival. Yeah, and it's an incredible record. I, encourage everybody you've had such a massive musical output from your own recordings over the years going back to the palo Alto days and the I mean but

certain records I think that's a little bit lesser known recording of yours although it's one of your Beth know not even also yeah it kind of has a cult following and it's really interesting because it keeps coming up and that song interestingly enough like you can go on YouTube

and you'll see, you know, people who have, you know, done dance routines and, you know, competition. It was on, so you think you can dance. And I think when, I forgot the years, the early 2000s when Hillary Clinton went, or actually it might have been earlier in that, to China for this big giant women's conference, it was the song that led the conference. So it's always kind of been under the surface. But she just brought it out into the, you know. in the universe. So that was really nice.

And I told her, you know, I was so thankful because it was in a moment where, you know, this is a moment that she had been waiting for. And in that specific moment, here she was, you know, thanking all of these people. But at the same time, you know, she was receiving her roses and giving roses to other people. And I happened to be one of those people. So I thought it was a glorious moment. Absolutely. And I don't know if you talk with her about this at all, but it certainly had, my small, the replay on it, it had the, you know, the feeling of being just a spontaneous,

um, outburst by her almost like. And, and I mean, I know she's a great actress. So maybe she had this plan, you know, I don't know how that works. She didn't know that she was going to win. Yeah. If you see the whole, there's a whole video. She just kind of gathered herself. We did a thing for, um, the, the LA Times on this together. And she kind of gathered. And she kind of gathered. And she kind of gathered herself. And then, you know, that's what, and like I said, she had been singing this song for years. Yeah. And then, like, all of a sudden, you know, that that was the thing that led, you know, her acceptance speech.

And I don't think she planned it because I don't think she thought she was even winning. So it was, you know, and she felt that moment as a moment of culmination of like her entire career and what she's been trying. to do in her career. And here it was that she received this Emmy. Oh, it was fantastic. I mean, it's such in this day and age of, you know, social media and everything flying around all this negativity to have, as you said, you know, your phone, everybody's phone blowing up and like, did you see that?

And because I got the message the same thing. It was like, did you see Diane? I was like, Diane's at the, like, you know, it kind of got conflated. But to have something so cool and spontaneous and just soul-inducing kind of. of positivity in a way that doesn't normally happen to see the algorithm take over on that is a really thrilling thing. Man, I did so many interviews, Access Hollywood, Essence, Man. I mean, it just kept, you know, it was in Rolling Stone.

I mean, it was just everywhere. It was amazing. But the thing that really got me more than anything is when it happened, it's like all of these people who knew what that song was started putting out on social media. That's Diane Reeves song. And that blew me away. And that's how it ended up coming to me. It's because of people that knew.

Well, you know, we on the show, we talked to a lot of musicians. You know, the show is for musicians trying to make their best music. And that moment, you know, really to me, it speaks to the power of honesty. This is an honest moment for you in 1994 to compose that. And it's just, you know, it keeps coming back because of that raw, honest. emotion i encourage everybody to go check out the lyrics go listen to it go read the lyrics and you'll get a sense of that kind of you know authenticity yeah it just it's timeless so and i was just looking back at the because i wanted to make sure because i was like yeah bird alone i thought that was

on art and survival that's what i'm saying that whole record is a banger uh which you know abby lincoln's bird alone diane has an incredible i mean like that's one of my go-toes when i'm just like i need some power of emotion and humanity in terms of, you know, hearing your voice, but that connection with the tradition with Abby, but in a new way, old souls. I mean, a lot of this stuff, I got to come to the river. We used to play that way back in the day. Fantastic. That's Eddie's arrangement. Isn't it on there? No, actually, that's mine. Oh, that's your. Wow, such a great man. The whole thing. But your guys, collaboration, your stuff, and Mniongo, everybody. It's a, it's a great one for folks to rediscover. For, of course, in,

species, but you'll find some other gems around there, too, I would encourage. And then, Diane, you just finished doing a film score to a new movie that Jeff was released in the last couple weeks called The Woman King, directed by Gina Price, Blythe, uh, who directed love and basketball, uh, and it stars, uh, Viola Davis and Terrence Blanchard scored the music and brought you in, you recorded in Scotland, you said? Yeah, it was the last minute. We were up somewhere in Northern California. He said, can you come to Scotland?

Because I was on my way home. I was like, yeah, for what? You know, he was like, so I ended up getting there the day before. So I got a chance to rest. The next day I was at the studio from 12 to like 4 in the morning. And at 5.30, I left and came back to the States. Well, Gina really, really liked the work that I had done. So she wanted me to do more.

So she set it up in a studio here. in Denver. And so I ended up doing other parts of the film. And what it was was all of this, and, you know, Peter, you know how we do on stage. It was some of the wordless, you know, emotional, you know, improvisation things that I do. And that's what he wanted in this film. And it was, it felt so amazing because what I would, Gina would show me, you know, a clip. This is what's happening. This is what she's doing. This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this. This is the emotion. So I'd look at the clip and then interpret the emotion and improvide these wordless things that really would, you know, be the undertone or the subtext of what she's

feeling. And so it was incredible because, like, we've done that on stage, but I had never had the opportunity to have a space like this that was inviting me to be able to do this kind of work. So it was exciting, you know. So I did several, you know, it's about in the film itself, there's at least like about eight or nine minutes of me in different sections, which is a lot. And then at the end, I just, you know, get a chance to just let go and be, you know. So it's really nice. The score was magnificent. And, you know, I was just, I'm very thankful to, to, uh, to a chance for inviting me to be a part of it. Well, I mean, I think, you know, Terrence always has such a great, you know how it is with Terrence. I'm sure this was probably your experience with this. Like, there's really no line between

the hang and the friendship and then the music. And then I think he has such a good feel for what you and other great artists can bring to a cinematic experience. And I can't wait to see this because I've always thought, you know, your voice, you know, lends itself to so many different things, but it has such a cinematic quality. And then your natural storytelling ability, which is always intertwined with that, it sounds like kind of a perfect match. It was really wonderful. And it makes me, just recently, I was at the Biennale in Venice, my first time in Venice.

And there were all these, you know, installations from all over the world. And in England, there was an installation of vocal work doing this exact same thing, you know. So it was really, really cool to see, you know, that voice is the first instrument and it's being used as what it is as an instrument. So sometimes it's just about sound and wordless, you know, emotion and improvisation just like, you know, a horn or, you know, a piano or what have you. So it's really, really nice to see this being starting to be a part of everything. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I mean, you know, having seen your work and being able to be there when you, when you were so beautifully featured on Good Night and Good Luck by George Clooney, even though that was kind of a period piece and a very, you know, biopic or almost like a, you know, it was depicting actual people and actual specific. Very specific.

Yeah. But because, well, we do call him George just so you know. I'm talking about George Clooney. George gave you, remember all the, I mean, he was basically like, because you were like, wait, how long is this? And he was just like, whatever you're feeling. If you go a little longer, like it was so much freer that I think we were expecting. And it really highlighted your ability, which very few vocalists would be able to do. Like you kind of got more excited and more inspired. I remember the more freedom you had, it was like, oh, cool.

All right. I'm going to do this. Well, the fact that we were, we were like delivering, like we were doing it just like the actors. The music was live in the film. You know, I thought I was going to have to record and then go back and learn what I did, which I was really dreading. He was like, uh-uh, this is live. And that, to trust some, you know, I was like, that's my element, you know.

Right. And so, you know, so all, as we, you know, continue to feel more comfortable, we continue to do what we do naturally. Right, right. But that's becoming like, I mean, I always like talking about these things. And that's why I said you're such a great spokesperson for the music beyond just, you know, your artistry is because these kinds of stories, these, ways of doing things. It's not getting lost with the younger singers and the younger musicians, but if we don't

talk about it and show them, because it is a more isolated world, people, you know, you can learn Diane Reeves with your wonderful chorus to find your voice available on Open Studio. It's like, you can feel like, oh, I've gotten everything from Diane because I saw it in the thing, but it's like there's so much more there in the

moment if you're ready to pounce on all that. And the one thing that the three of us share is the fact that we came up on records and CDs where people, you know, talked about their work on their, on their actual work, you know, on the CD covers on the album records. And so there was like a lot more, you know, information. And I think it's really unfortunate because then you could kind of, you know, get an idea of how things worked in the studio who did what, how they did it, what it was

about, what was the inspiration, all of those kinds of things. And now, you know, that just doesn't exist and it's it's really kind of that part is kind of sad to me yeah absolutely well hopefully you know even these kinds of discussions the younger folks look at this as like their album you know the back of the album cover like you said and hopefully treasured in that way because it it's stuff that we don't take it for granted but we assume they know and they don't always know right right exactly and so things like this is important so thank you for having me here oh thank you for Well, I was going to say hearing your description of what you were doing, scoring the Woman King, because you were just, you were no lyrics, right? You were just improvising melody.

He would play the music. I had never heard the music. And so I would listen to it. And then, you know, of course, listen to the dialogue and see what was going on. Because there's a lot of brutality in the film, but there's a lot of love and sweetness and strength. There's all kind of stuff. It's just everything. So it was just an opera. It was like interpreting a song or interpreting what they were doing. They were the, I was the song, and they were the lyrics and the action. And so I was like kind of like the underneath that pushes it forward.

And that felt amazing. You know, I was happening, you know, in a lot of ways. So in a lot of ways I can relate to you because what we have together, Peter, you know, the way that you play, we play together. You know, there's this like this give and take and call and answer, call and response kind of thing that propels us forward constantly. I sing something, you hear it, then you'll play something off of that, and it becomes a conversation.

So it was like that kind of experience. I was going to say, it kind of reminds me, what's the Pat Mathini song that you all did? Minwanu. Minwanu? Yeah. Yeah. Right. So on your, for our open studio members on Diane's chorus to find your voice,

there is a lesson or maybe even two on this Pat Mathini song where you're doing exactly that. Everybody's got big ears and you and Romero are listening so intently and there's a back and forth between it and you're, you're just being in the moment singing what you're hearing. Well, one of the things I try to tell students all the time is this is a living art form. You know, it is like you come with your tools ready and you engage and you have conversations. and it's this intimate exchange that happens between everyone on stage, which makes the music, you know, unique from night to night. You know, each performance is different.

And just to remember that and to trust and listen to one another and create something every night. And you don't have to go back and do what you did the night before. You can go from there, you know. We were talking just recently. Sometimes when you, you know, we would come on the stage after a long, day of travel, everybody is just tired, hungry, you know, feeling emotionally destroyed. We have angry, too.

Yes, you know, it's the best it's because there's a way to channel all of those feelings in the music. We're all on one accord. And it's not, it doesn't come off the way that we feel. It comes off in a way that we feel like kind of grace in the situation. It's almost a sanctuary at that point. Absolutely. It's away from all that other stuff. it's yeah yes place to

yeah all right so I want I'd like to just ask you about these are just things I'm thinking of I mean it's always so exciting to to talk with you about this stuff but talking about collaborations and Terrence stuff there's two other collaborations that I witnessed

this is probably well I know it's among literally hundreds that you've had you know really special moments with different musicians and I think folks because you're you're such a great band leader beyond being just a great vocalist but you also like have crafted great bands and know how to work in a band situation so brilliantly.

But people always see you out front, you know, and you're out there doing the thing. But some of your collaborations, two in particular I'm thinking up. One, I just watched recently because I was doing a video, and that was with Roy Hargrove, RIP, our brother, our other leader, Roy, who just had a birthday. That's why we've been talking about a lot. But on You Go to My Head. And I believe it was from that festival up by Hamburg. There's a great YouTube of it

And you've done that with You know some other you know with Winton I've heard that was beautiful and with Terrence But what you And with Nicholas Payton And Nicholas Payton right Basically the who's who of like This generation's trumpet players

And they were all wonderful Yeah the original was Nicholas on the record On a little moonlight But that performance with Roy Like you and Roy had a connection And a rapport That was you know through music that was just magical.

And seeing that again, I was reminded of that. And, you know, I don't know if you remember, but the first time we ever played together was with Roy Hargrove in Los Angeles in 1994. And I didn't realize, you know, when you were a special guest with Roy. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

But, and I know you play with him at different times, but you guys didn't have, it wasn't like you were playing together all the time. But whenever you did come together, it was a connection through the music that was just, just extraordinary. We'll link to that video. I don't know. Have you seen that lately or thought about that? I've seen it. The thing that's so

interesting about Roy is you know, Appie Lincoln always said jazz is a spirit. And it's so true. And some people are just like real clear conduits. You know, they just come open, ready to plug in. And you know, and one thing I know about Roy is that he stayed

plugged in. I mean, And music was life, life was music. And so when you get up, even if there weren't many words said, there was this understanding and this agreement of joining together. That's how I always felt when I did anything with him. And I wanted to hear what it was that he had to say. And I knew that he wanted to hear what I had to say. And the way that he speaks to people through music is different.

Each person is a different kind of way that he, you know, he speaks through music. And so, you know, and he knew so many songs. I mean, he knew what the emotion of the song was, but he also knew that the emotion of the song was beyond the words and more about what we were experiencing in that moment. And that's how I felt as well. So, you know, I've listened to Roy sometimes where I've been driving and had to just pull off to the side of the side of the road because, you know, his, his way is so powerful and so clear and so honest and authentic, just always, you know. Yeah.

So I miss him. Yeah, me too. I mean, that's so beautifully put. And I kind of, I've started thinking about Roy in a way that I realized I always thought about him, but like he was like the conscious, conscience of our generation of musician. I mean, I came up with, we met when we were in high school. So I look at him, but I always looked at him as an elder. Like, we were at the same age.

But because of his, you know, his connection, but like his dedication to the music, it went beyond just this. He really continues to be that. And it's not about seriousness. We know he was super, like, playful and like in the moment and whatever was appropriate. But like his dedication to music and, as you said, plugged in, he was plugged into the matrix of music. in a way that was very profound. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and always open to it.

You know, he was just there for it to happen. So, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. The other musician, one of the many other collaborations, the one that I always, I think about often, is your several collaborations duets, spontaneous improvisations with Bobby McFerrin.

And a couple of them I saw off on the side of the stage and one or two, I actually got to, participate and play with you guys. But I just want to paint the picture for everybody. For you, Diane was probably like, oh, this is another singer sitting in, whatever we're doing our thing, you know. But I mean, we're talking about, we're not talking about any preparation. I don't think there was any discussion about what was going to happen.

I mean, like, you guys came to the stage or you brought him on, like, total clean, you know, clean slate. It was just like total ears and like, what is the moment going to bring? But what you guys created and we were just kind of trying to hang on for deer. I was actually trying out to play anything and you kind of looked at me. I was like, oh shit, I got to join. Okay. I didn't want to mess it up, you know, because you guys, it was like your ears and Bobby's

ears just got so big and like that connection was there, but challenging each other too. But just the spontaneous and, you know, and the crowd just, you had them in the palm of your hands, but in a way they weren't like jumping up and down. They were just like drawn to what you guys were doing. And I saw it three times. So I know it wasn't like a fluke, but I just wonder, have you done anything with him recently? Is there any plans more and what you've thought of? I was going to go see the Great Milton Nashmento's

Fairwell concert. And right down the street, Bobby McFerrin's name was on the billboard and they said that he comes there, I guess, every Friday and he does these vocal things. And I thought, you know, I don't know how long that's going to last because he lives up there, but I think I might just fly back up there just to do that. The thing that I love about Bobby is that, you know, he just, he, him like myself, we deal with this, what I call cellular memory, like how you know how to do things without knowing how you know how to do it, you know,

something that propels you forward that you remember from, from like before you were even, you know, here, you know, but you feel it and you do it and you bring it forth. And so every time, you know, I am in a position to be with him, you know, I always say that the stages are sacred space. You know, when I'm with Bobby, it's like, gosh, you know, we could just go on forever, you know, because we kind of live and we're kind of cut from the same cloth in that way. And we recognize one another in that space. And so it just makes it easy to just go into that space and say, look, we may not be able to get back, but we're going to just keep moving forward and boldly go, you know, where we've never been before. And that's the thing that I love. I think that this music, it is so important to jump off.

It is so important to, you know, to find yourself out in a space and, you know, to keep exploring, even though you've never been there. and even if you have a fear of being in the space even jump further because you're going to find what you're made of, what you have to give and what you have to say. Beautifully said. Okay. So that's some stuff for our listeners to shed on. You know what I'm saying? Caleb, did you write that down? Yeah.

Yeah, and that space can be frightening to some people, but you're right. It's affirming to be out there and to survive or not. Right. Right. Right. But the thing is, you know, you come back here and, you know, it's amazing. I mean, that's how I started. When I used to work with Billy Childs, we used to be at the comeback in, we didn't get paid, you know, it was just an opportunity to have a stage to work things out. And that was the whole thing of just jumping off every night and, you know, just flying and seeing where you land and finding what you're made of. And then different musicians would come in.

And, you know, every musician has their own, what I say, universe or their own, you know, way that they experience rhythm and harmonies. They have, everybody has their own way that they speak. And it's no different than what we're doing like right now, you know. And so, you know, you have people that come and they play and you hear, you start to hear music in another kind of way that you didn't know you could hear it like that because that's the way they sound. And so that's, all those kind of things are extremely important. Well, Diane, thank you so much for the time. Thank you for the discussion, for the inspiration as always. And, you know, I'll just direct folks to, normally it's like go check out a latest release.

You can go check out whatever. But art and survival, which now is such a pressing title that you had back in 1994 with endangered species. But what you're talking about, obviously you've done well more than just survived. you've thrived but to be able to have you know that kind of understanding at that age at that time in your career was amazing and the art that you've created were all the better for it yeah congrats on that congrats on the woman king

yeah everybody go check that out streaming soon if not already yeah and I just want to add one more thing you know Terry Lynn Carrington just came out with 101 you know a real book of all women composers and that's so exciting you You know, because they asked her, you know, do you even know if there's 100 women or 100 women that, and she, you know, the look on her face was like, are you kidding, you know? Right, right. So it's really, really nice that.

And I'm glad to be a part of it as well. So it's been a lot of good things that have been happening. The music is growing and moving forward. There are a lot of exciting young artists that are out there doing it and killing the game, you know. So this is an exciting. time. Absolutely. And the 101, which of your compositions is featured in that? Tango is in there. Tango. Oh, awesome. Okay. So that'll be cool. And that's like Berkeley Press or something like that. Yes. Publishing. Yeah. So folks can check that out. I know that's

available now. So, well, great, Diane. Thank you. Continued. Blessings and joy to you. I really, this was really, really nice. I wish interviews were like this, because people ask some stupid-ass questions. But, you know. We're like straddling the line between, it's like, 15 more minutes. Well, I mean, no, no, no, it's like by a love fest for you and being real journalists. We're definitely more on the love fest side.

But the most important thing is conversation. And you know, you know, and we know how we talk to each other. And, you know, that's the thing that brings out more than anything in people that makes them want to talk. So, yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like podcast getting kind of bigger now, whatever. I'm going to tell them somebody the other day. They were like, yeah, your podcast is blowing up and how did you learn about this?

And I said, well, you know, I used to the radio stuff. But I said, you know, I worked for many years with Diane Reeves. And she's like amazing singer on stage, but she's kind of been like a podcast on stage before there was podcast. Because when you feel the vibe, if the audience is right, you'll start telling stories, spontaneous things. And sometimes people like, didn't you hear that story before? I'm like, yeah, but not like that. It was different tonight. So it's like, you know, whenever you're ready for your own podcast, we're ready for you at Open Studio.

Okay. Thanks a lot. All right. Thank you, Diane. Be well, Diane. You guys. Take care. All the best.

Talk soon. You'll hear it. You'll hear it. All right. All right. Bye-bye. Bye.