Fans of Diane Schuur know the story: blind since birth, singing professionally at 9, discovered by the late saxophonist Stan Getz at the 1979 Monterey Jazz Festival. And don’t forget her passion for the singers, such as Dinah Washington, Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan, who inspired Schuur at a tender age.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that the 49-year-old Schuur’s new CD, “Midnight” (Concord Jazz) pays tribute to standards she grew up hearing in her formative years.
There’s just one catch. Most of the 13 songs on “Midnight” are recent arrivals to the canon.
The album was actually the brainchild of singer-songwriter Barry Manilow and his longtime collaborator Eddie Arkin. Schuur, known to most friends as Deedles, had worked with both men on Manilow’s 1988 jazz foray, “Swing Street.” [story; weitere Berichte: 1, 2, 3, 4]