Jeanne Lee

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Jeanne Lee 1984 in Hamburg

Jeanne Lee (born January 29, 1939 in New York , † October 25, 2000 in Tijuana , Mexico ) was an American singer ( jazz , new music ), choreographer and author . She is said to have the most innovative vocal approach in contemporary jazz.

Live and act

The pianist, dancer and choreographer (Bachelor) trained at Bard College (in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York) began to systematically explore the possibilities of the human voice in 1961, inspired by recordings by the Peruvian singer Yma Sumac . In a duo with pianist Ran Blake , Jeanne Lee recorded the album The Newest Sound Around : Concise, almost “cool” interpretations of standards and own pieces that still impress today with their combination of beauty and simplicity. The duo took part in the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1962 and achieved success in 1963 with a six-month tour of Europe. After returning to the USA, she married the sound poet David Hazelton , gave birth to their daughter Naima and lived in California until 1966.

In 1966 she returned to Europe, where she made the Gunter Hampel Group & Jeanne Lee record with Gunter Hampel , Willem Breuker , Arjen Gorter and Pierre Courbois . Lee then went back to the United States, where her husband was dying. In 1969 she returned to Europe, where she took part in the recording of The 8th of July 1969 , one of the first encounters between African American and European free music. Concerts and records with the various ensembles of Hampel, in particular his Galaxy Dream Band , as well as groups from Anthony Braxton , Sunny Murray , Marion Brown , Rahsaan Roland Kirk , Enrico Rava and recordings for Carla Bley's Escalator over the Hill followed. In 1974 she released the LP Conspiracy , where her poems are more clearly in the center than in the works of Hampels. In 1976 and 1977 she was involved in the development and numerous performances of John Cage's aleatoric composition Renga with Apartment House 1776 (premiere under the direction of Pierre Boulez ).

Lee commuted between Germany and the USA; the children Cavana and Ruomi come from the second marriage (with Hampel). She worked with Archie Shepp , Bob Moses , Andrew Cyrille , Ellen Christi , Lisa Sokolov , William Parker , Peter Kowald , Marilyn Mazur and dancers like Patricia Parker and founded the Vocal Summit with Jay Clayton , Urszula Dudziak , Lauren Newton and Bobby McFerrin ( Record 1982, tour 1984). She was also involved in recordings and tours with musical projects around the painters AR Penck and Stefan Roloff .

Her CD Natural Affinities was created in 1992 based on texts by Ntozake Shange and her own poems with a. a. Amina Claudine Myers and Dave Holland , 1993 Here and Now together with cellist David Eyges . She has also worked with Reggie Workman , Jane Bunnett , Sheila Jordan , Gary Bartz and the Orchester National de Jazz . Together with the pianist Mal Waldron , she formed a long-term duo, which was partially expanded to a trio for tours (for example with Nicolas Simion ).

In New York, she conducted sound and movement workshops with Michelle Berne and Jay Clayton. At the New England Conservatory of Music and at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag she trained young singers (for example Susanne Abbuehl and Anette von Eichel ). In 1999 she published the book Jam! The Story of Jazz Music .

Their work, especially their singing with its conscious physical integration, have overcome conventional ideas of singing. Her improvisations and her poetry sung sound - according to the Jazz Rough Guide - “always light and casual and casual. Your voice dances, naturally and weightlessly. "

At the age of 61 she succumbed to colon cancer diagnosed a few months earlier in Tijuana .

Discography (selection)

  • 1962: The Newest Sound Around (with Ran Blake)
  • 1972: Spirits (with Gunter Hampel and Perry Robinson)
  • 1972: Family (with Gunter Hampel and Anthony Braxton)
  • 1972: Town Hall 1972 (with Anthony Braxton)
  • 1974: Conspiracy (with Gunter Hampel, Sam Rivers, Jack Gregg, ...)
  • 1978: Oasis (with Gunter Hampel)
  • 1979: Nuba (with Andrew Cyrille and Jimmy Lyons)
  • 1979: Freedom of the Universe (with Gunter Hampel)
  • 1984: Don't Freeze Yourself to Death Over There in Those Mountains (with Denis Charles)
  • 1992: You Stepped Out of a Cloud (with Ran Blake)
  • 1992: Natural Affinities (with Dave Holland, Gunter Hampel, Amina Claudine Myers, ...)
  • 1993: Here and Now (with David Eyges)
  • 1994: After Hours (with Mal Waldron)
  • 1995: Travellin 'In Soul-Time (with Mal Waldron and Toru Tenda)
  • 1995: White Road Black Rain (with Mal Waldron and Toru Tenda)
  • 1996: Duo (with Gunter Hampel)

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Alternative date of death October 24 at Jazzpages ( memento of the original from October 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jazzpages.com
  2. ↑ "Many critics have cited Lee as creating free jazz's most innovative vocal approach" writes Ron Wynn in the All Music Guide
  3. ^ Diana Torti: Jeanne Lee, art on the move: The expressive urgency of the first sound. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, p. 384
personal data
SURNAME Lee, Jeanne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer (jazz, new music), author and choreographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , NY , USA
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2000
Place of death Tijuana , Mexico