Dee Alexander
Deleatrice "Dee" Alexander (born December 2, 1955 in Chicago ) is an American jazz singer who works in the music scene in Chicago.
Life
Alexander grew up on the West Side of Chicago; she had piano lessons as a child and studied singing with Shedelle Farriar, later with Phil Cohran and at the AACM School of Music. Early role models were Ella Fitzgerald , Sarah Vaughan , King Pleasure , Eddie Jefferson and Billie Holiday . She began her career as a background singer in various groups and then appeared as a soloist in clubs of Chicago, such as the Green Mill and the Velvet Lounge from Fred Anderson . Since 1990 she has worked full-time in administration at the University of Illinois .
Alexander, who is a member of the AACM and has played with musicians from this environment such as Edward Wilkerson , Ernest Dawkins , Ari Brown , Douglas Ewart , Mwata Bowden and Henry Huff , works in the spectrum of jazz , gospel , rhythm and blues , blues and soul , etc. . a. in the formation Ken Chaney Experience and her own Evolution Ensemble with Tomeka Reid , Ernie Adams and James Sanders. In 2001 the self-produced live album Live at the Hothouse was created , with a program of standards such as Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise , Body and Soul , Straight No Chaser , Love for Sale and All Blues .
In 2007 she performed the Sirens of Song tribute program to Dinah Washington and Nina Simone in Millennium Park, a. a. with Orbert Davis and the Jazz Philharmonic. Also in 2007 she toured several European countries on behalf of the Jazz Institute of Chicago as part of the Made in Chicago program . In 2008 she recorded with Hamid Drake ( Blissful ); In 2009 she performed at Umbria Jazz , accompanied by the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble under the direction of George Lewis . In 2009 her studio album Wild is the Wind was released ; She also took part in recordings of R. Kelly , Brian Culbertson , Malachi Thompson . In 2015 she performed with the AACM Vocal Ensemble at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival .
She was voted Chicago's Best Singer by Chicago Magazine; The Downbeat Critic Poll voted her a Rising Star in 2009 in the Female Vocalist category .
Discography
- Live at the Hothouse (2001)
- Unplugged (2006), with Miguel de la Cerna, Lorin Cohen, Leon Joyce, Jr.
- Wild Is the Wind (BluJazz, 2009), with Miguel de la Cerna, Harrison Bankhead , Leon Joyce Jr.
- Dee Alexander / Evolution Ensemble Unit Sketches of Light (EGEA 2013)
- Songs My Mother Loves (BluJazz, 2014), with Miguel de la Cerna, Harrison Bankhead, Yussef Ernie Adams and Tomeka Reid , Oliver Lake , Corey Wilkes u. a.
- It's Too Hot for Words: Celebrating Billie Holiday (Delmark, 2019)
Web links
- Web presence
- Portrait at AACM ( Memento from February 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- Dee Alexander at Discogs (English)
- Interview in Chicago Jazz Magazine 2009
- The Gentler Side of Singer Dee Alexander Chicago Tribune , January 22, 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry (UIC)
- ↑ Jazz in Chicago
- ↑ < Umbria Jazz ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Album review in Jazz in Chicago
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alexander, Dee |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alexander, Deleatrice |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2nd December 1955 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago |