Diane Schuur Performs 'Some Other Time' at Blue Note March 4 & 9

Diane Schuur, the acclaimed vocalist and pianist, will celebrate the release of her new Concord Records CD, "Some Other Time," with an exclusive engagement at the Blue Note Jazz Club (101 West Third Street in New York) from Tuesday, March 4 to Sunday, March 9. Shows are at 8PM & 10:30PM. There is a $35 cover charge at tables and a $20 cover charge at the bar. Reservations can be made by calling (212) 475-8592 or visiting www.bluenote.net. She will be joined by Randy Porter on piano, Scott Steed on bass, Reggie Jackson on drums and Dan Balmer on guitar.

Diane Schuur returns to her jazz roots – the music of her parents' generation, which includes some of the earliest and most enduring music in her creative consciousness – with the worldwide release of Some Other Time (Concord Jazz CCD-30614) on February 26. "This recording is a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of my mother's death," says Schuur, whose mother died at age 31 in January 1967, when the aspiring young vocalist and musician was only 13 years old.

The album kicks off with "Nice Work If You Can Get It," a classic by one of the most influential songwriting teams of the last century, George and Ira Gershwin. Beginning here and for most of the set, pianist/arranger Randy Porter and guitarist Dan Balmer set up a rich harmonic platform for Schuur's playful vocals.

Also from the Gershwin canon is "I've Got Beginner's Luck," which follows an elastic time signature crafted by the rhythm section of bassist Scott Steed and drummer Reggie Jackson. For all of the song's complexities, Schuur's equally pliable vocals have no trouble keeping up. Similarly, Schuur's rendition of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" a few tracks later is everything the title implies – wide-open, airy and full of possibility – with Schuur taking an interpretive and playful approach with the vocal line. She takes a similar tack with "My Favorite Things," the whimsical Rodgers and Hammerstein classic from The Sound of Music, one of Schuur's favorite movies from her childhood.

While Porter handles the lion share of the piano work on Some Other Time, Schuur steps up to the keys for two tracks, "It's Magic" and "The Good Life," and proves that her instrumental chops are just as formidable as her vocal abilities.

The closing tracks have a poignant magic all their own. "September in the Rain" is taken from a 1964 recording made by a 10-year-old Schuur and her parents at a Holiday Inn in Tacoma, Washington. Filled with the same gusto that would later define Schuur's vocal style as an adult, this reel-to-reel recording was later transferred to an audiocassette in the 1980s and finally to digital for this project by engineer Bill Smith.

Diane Schuur

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