Dee Dee Bridgewater
Victim of Love
Emarcy/Decca Records
www.emarcy.com/www.deccarecords.com

Dee Dee Bridgewater
Live In Paris
Emarcy/Decca Records
www.emarcy.com/www.deccarecords.com

Dee Dee Bridgewater
In Montreux
Emarcy/Decca Records
www.emarcy.com/www.deccarecords.com

Dee Dee Bridgewater
Live at Yoshi’s
Emarcy/Decca Records
www.emarcy.com/www.deccarecords.com

By George W. Harris

Bridgewater’s 1989 Victim Of Love is sort of a ringer, as there is
really no “jazz” per se on this disc. Backed by an “adult-contemporary”
band that includes Tony Bonfils/b, Andre Ceccarelli/dr along with some
keyboardists and electric guitarists, Ms. B performs contemporary tunes
by Papadiamandis and Legrand that sound more like Celine Dion than
anyone else. Highly arranged, this disc is more for the mustang here.

Completely unbridled on stage, her trio of concert recordings are a
real treat. Her 1986 performance at New-Morning in France includes
Herve’ Sellin/p, Tony Bonfils/b and Andre Ceccarelli/dr for an hour’s
worth of material that includes an incendiary “Cherokee” and some
lovely readings of “Misty” and “There Is No Greater Love.” The only
thing that keeps this from being an unreserved recommendation is the
recording quality, which has a bit of an off-mic’d sound at times.
Above a bootleg in quality, but not razor sharp.

All engineering problems are resolved for Bridgewater’s 1990
performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival with Bert Van den Brink/p and
Hein Van De Geyn/b accompanying Ceccarelli on a disc that gives a lot
of room for stretching out. A soto-voce mix of “Just Friends” “A Child
Is Born” and “Strange Fruit” include some delicate enunciations from Ms
Bee as she circumnavigates around the pensive bass and piano, while
she faces the fiery drumming of “Night In Tunisia” with fearless
fortitude. She seems happily at home with hard bop, as she goes to her
ace in the hole composer Horace Silver for a snappy trio that closes
the show with the audience gasping for air. Great stuff here.
Coming stateside in 1998, Bridgewater performs at Yoshi’s club in
Oakland to celebrate Ella Fitzgerald’s 80th birthday. Emphasizing
material from her “Dear Ella” album that had come out a year before,
Bridgewater delivers confident and sassy versions of “Undecided” and
“Slow Boat To China” before scatting everything that can be scatted on
a whirlwind “Cottontail.” Along with Thierry Eliez/p, Ali Jackson/dr
and Thomas Bramerie/b, Ms B is fiery like a uncaged leopard on
“Cherokee” and standards ranging from Porter to James Brown. If you
can give me 2 good reasons why this lady’s not selling out the
Hollywood Bowl, I’m willing to listen. This concert material needs to
be in the female vocalist canon of discs in your collection.