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Jazz great Dee Dee Bridgewater coming to the Carver Community Cultural Center in San Antonio

Dee Dee Bridgewater with her band, and her dog, from NPR's Tiny Desk Concert
Tiny Desk Concert
Dee Dee Bridgewater with her band, and her dog, from NPR's Tiny Desk Concert.

One of jazz’s distinctive voices, Dee Dee Bridgewater will play the Carver Community Cultural Center on Saturday night, Feb. 5.

As a stylist, she doesn’t just sing a song. She seems almost to become the song.

“I like very much to tell the story of a song, whatever that story is,” she says.

Dee Dee Bridgewater: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

She’s toured and lived all across the world, winning three Grammys and a Tony along the way. And in the fashion of some artists she admires, puts body and soul into it.

“What I do is I sing with the spirit of improvisation and using a method to improvise called scatting, which is where a vocalist can use their voice to sound like an instrument,” Bridgewater said.

She doesn’t get to Texas often and hasn’t been to San Antonio for many years. This performance at the Carver will be her first. She’s looking forward to connecting with those who come.

Texas Public Radio is supported by contributors to the Arts & Culture News Desk including The Guillermo Nicolas & Jim Foster Art Fund, Patricia Pratchett, and the V.H. McNutt Memorial Foundation.

“What I try to bring to my performances is my truth, my honesty and my imagination,” she said. “Because this is the moment that I have with an audience. So this is our moment together.”

While Bridgewater has recorded R&B, pop and Broadway tunes, she always moves back to jazz. As to what she’s playing at the Carver, she will perform selections from her dozens of albums, plus covers her fans ask for.

“Billie Holiday. It's a favorite of all audiences. Ella Fitzgerald is a favorite of audiences, so I'll do selections from those repertoire,” Bridgewater said.

She will be accompanied by a three-member band, and those looking for tickets can find them here.

Dee Dee Bridgewater from NPR's Tiny Desk Concert
Tiny Desk Concert
Dee Dee Bridgewater from NPR's Tiny Desk Concert
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Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii