Just finished watching Good Night, and Good Luck.

Liked it just fine.

But the thing that really got to me was the music. If you’ve seen the movie, I KNOW you remember the few scenes of the woman singing the beautiful jazz standards. At first, just sat back, enjoyed, and thought “Gotta find out who that is.”

Then I thought… “Could it be her?”

After a few milliseconds more, I KNEW it was her, KNEW it was my beloved Dianne Reeves – wasn’t sure who that lady in the movie was, but that voice was Dianne Reeves, a voice like a slow drink of whiskey, a voice, that one person stated in an Amazon review, that “has the power to turn any room in your house into a smoky jazz club.”

Oh, I could just sink into that voice forever.

If you enjoy jazz, I highly recommend picking up Dianne Reeves “I Remember” – not a huge fan of the first track, but god, the whole CD is awesome. I swear she has an orgasm on a couple tracks (a musical orgasm, if you will). I’ll play it for you next time you’re over. I’ll even try not to sing along (that’s a very tall order and I make NO PROMISES). However, I predict that the “Good Night, and Good Luck” cd will rival it for first place in my affections.

I was introduced to her when I was in High School. I sang in jazz choir in school, and in the northwest, vocal jazz was IT. We went to festivals all over the state (WA) as well as neighboring states (ID, OR) and provinces (Vancouver & Victoria BC). I still remember when one of the guys in choir mentioned how he had gone to see her downtown one weekend the BURNING jealousy I had for him, and even anger that he did not INFORM ME so that I could go. She was an adjudicator at one of the festivals we attended, and performed in an evening concert, but more importantly, held a Q&A session with only about 20 people. I can’t remember any of it, however.

I just remember she was amazing.

The woman has won four consecutive Grammy’s.? Seriously, I can’t stop wigging out here. She HAS A CHRISTMAS ALBUM! HOW did I NOT KNOW THAT?? (yup, won a grammy.)
My major in college was music, Voice with an emphasis in Jazz. However, I went to college at BYU, in Provo, which is in Utah, where any mention of jazz was met with basketball talk. Not a big jazz sort of place. I didn’t graduate, and while I am entirely to blame, I wonder if I would have stayed interested and hard working if I was in a school that could really take me down the path I wanted to go. Jazz emphasis or not, BYU didn’t have the path. (It didn’t have a lot of other paths for me too, but this post is about jazz, mmmkay?)
I just loaded up a ton of 80s music on my ipod and was on a total 80s kick today, but I think that kick ended … oh… about an hour and a half ago 🙂 Time to start loading up the jazz.

And making an amazon purchase!

Do you like jazz?

I bet you do. Norah Jones? She’s luscious, isn’t she? How about Harry Connick Jr? Or even Squirrel Nut Zippers? Royal Crown Revue? I would even stick Brian Setzer and his fabulous orchestra in there, and guess what, that’s all jazz, baby. All that great music on your Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack – jazz baby! Give Dianne a listen, and I bet you won’t regret it – and this soundtrack is a great place to start.

– amy sings, be still my heart!