Dianne Reeves Coming to Harris Center, 6/16

Four-time Grammy winner and preeminent jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves recently released her first album in five years, Beautiful Life, to rave reviews. Beautiful Life, which made its debut in February of this year, is an emotionally charged volcanic journey covering the spectrum from jazz to soul. Ms. Reeves will share her passion for this album in her one-night performance at Harris Center for the Arts in Folsom June 16.

Dianne Reeves is one of the pre-eminent jazz vocalists in the world. As a result of her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings-a Grammy first in any vocal category. She was featured in George Clooney's six-time Academy Award nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, which chronicles Edward R. Murrow's ongoing confrontations with Senator Joseph McCarthy. The soundtrack recording of the film provided Reeves with her fourth Best Jazz Vocal Grammy.

DIANNE REEVES will perform Monday, June 16, 2014 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are priced at $25-$35; Premium $45.Tickets are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. Harris Center is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.

In what has been a storied, extraordinary career, Beautiful Life features some of the most engaging songs Reeves' has ever offered. "Even in a world with much sadness," says Reeves, "at its essence, life is beautiful and I wanted to celebrate that which can be easily overlooked."

There should be no overlooking Beautiful Life, a journey of 12 songs which includes singularly memorable covers of Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain," Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," Marvin Gaye's "I Want You" and Ani DiFranco's self-empowering "32 Flavors." Included in the rest of the tracks, are two new songs, "Cold" and "Satiated." These songs have touched Reeves' spirit in different ways and are rendered in such a way that will appeal to jazz and non-jazz fans alike.

Dianne Reeves has recorded and extensively performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis, who said of Reeves, "She has one of the most powerful, purposeful and accurate voices of this or any time." Reeves has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. In addition, she was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first singer to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall. Reeves appeared throughout George Clooney's award-winning Good Night and Good Luck and performed every song on the Grammy-winning soundtrack.

Ms. Reeves worked with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of standards. When Reeves' holiday collection Christmas Time is Here was released, Ben Ratliff of the New York Times raved, "Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assignment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CD's I've heard."

Reeves was featured in an award winning documentary on the life of composer Billy Strayhorn-Duke Ellington's collaborator. In recent years Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including a program entitled Sing the Truth, a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Liz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. She performed at the White House at both the State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors' Ball.