Dee Alexander Quartet feat. Stéphane Belmondo & Kirk Lightsey

Sonntag, 24. Mai 2015 ca. 19:00 Uhr


Dee Alexander  grew  up  on  the  West  Side  of  Chicago surrounded  by  the  music  of  Billie  Holiday,  Dinah Washington and Nina Simone.  
Alexander’s  versions  of  all-time  highs  and standards  are  both  full  of  the  singer’s improvisational power as well as of her ability to strive for the song’s inner emotional trueness with an “elastic” voice of soft love. 
While  most  of  the  songs  Alexander  delivers  are well  known  gems  from  the  Great  American Songbook,  her  interpretation  is  pure  authenticity within the black music soul of the USA today. 
This lady might just be one of the next “discoveries” in jazz for 2015 and 2016.

Stéphane Belmondo's last records lifted him to the ranks of the most remarkable jazzmen on the Old Continent: a mixture of feline power and hypersensitivity, sincere lyricism and controlled savagery, provides his playing with the kind of inspiration which stands out in a crowd. Now packing a new array of horns made especially for him by the Dutch instrument-maker Hub van Laar (the tune Brother Hub is dedicated both to the latter and to his eternal mentor Freddie Hubbard), Stéphane can express himself even more freely, with several of his own compositions throwing light on the different facets of his personality.

Alongside Belmondo you can hear the American pianist Kirk Lightsey, who appeared on Motown's first sessions before establishing himself as a partner of choice for Dexter Gordon or Woody Shaw; he's always a welcome guest on the Inntöne stage.

“Chicago-based  jazz  singer  Dee  Alexander  is  no stranger  to  high  praise.  In  2012  she  was  the recipient of the Illinois African-American Heritage Award  for  her  contribution  to  the  arts.  Her  2009 album  Wild  Is  The  Wind  (Blujazz)  received  a  5-star review and critical raves are piling up for her new  Blujazz  disc,  Songs  My  Mother  Loves.” 
(DownBeat Magazine)

Besetzung:

• Dee Alexander -voc
• Stéphane Belmondo -tr
• Kirk Lightsey -p
• Wolfram Derschmidt -b
• Dusan Novakov -dr