Dee Dee Bridgewater And The Memphis Soulphany Kick Off 82nd Artist Series

Dee Dee Bridgewater will bring southern soul to Boulder with a performance of selections from her most recent album "Memphis... Yes, I'm Ready" in the kickoff event of the 2018-19 Artist Series at Macky Auditorium on Saturday, Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m.

This month's performance will signify a departure from the jazz music audiences might typically associate with Bridgewater-a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and three-time Grammy and Tony Award winner. But it's been an important transition both artistically and personally, she says.

"My mother was beginning to transition with her dementia, so I knew her death was imminent ... I found at this point in my life, [this music] just became very uplifting ... for me, and for my spirit. And so this album has been a very healing album for me in that respect."

Bridgewater's most recent album pays homage to her hometown of Memphis, where she was born and lived for three years before moving to Flint, Michigan. Over 700 miles of distance between Michigan and Tennessee did not stop Bridgewater from tuning in to Memphis radio stations late at night from across state lines, referring to the listening sessions she hid from her family as her "secret musical garden."

"I wanted to be able to dance, I wanted to be able to just lose myself in a music, and this music I felt allowed me to do that. Because the melodies are simple, the stories are simple," Bridgewater said about the upcoming performance. "It's all about the funk and the rhythm, the beat, you know, and the basslines."

She will still be performing songs that have inspired her since those early nights by her radio.

Some pieces attendees may hear include Bridgewater's renditions of B.B. King's "Thrill Is Gone," "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding, "I Can't Stand the Rain" by Ann Peebles, and Carla Thomas' hit "B-A-B-Y," along with other well-known classics featured on "Memphis... Yes, I'm Ready."

Most recently, Bridgewater joined Gladys Knight and other artists to offer a free concert honoring Aretha Franklin the night before Franklin's funeral in Detroit and performed with the San Diego Symphony as part of "Ladies Who Jam: Women in Jazz."

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