Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater Interviewed at AAJ

It is almost inevitable for most people to think of Billie Holiday as a wounded human being who suffered, struggled and eased her pain with drugs and song lyrics on her way to self destruction in 1959. In her greatness, Billie was as devastating and as devastated as a summer with no water. And yet her magnetism, her very soul picking through her vocal chords and reaching out to the world, her goodness as a citizen of a world that couldn't seem to quite figure out whether to protect her or to incarcerate her, made her who she was: the voice jazz music will never be able to forget.

That is exactly what Dee Dee Bridgewater wanted to revisit in her new studio album, Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee (Decca, 2010)--the strength despite the horror, the smile despite the pain, the wit despite the silence. With a stellar group of musicians, ranging from Christian McBride on bass and Edsel Gomez on piano to James Carter on tenor sax, bass clarinet and alto flute, and Lewis Nash on drums, Bridgewater has now completed an involuntary circle of love that started years ago, when her ex-husband, Cecil Bridgewater, first suggested that she listen to the legendary Billie Holiday.

AAJ Contributor Esther Berlenga_Ryan spoke with Brigewater at length, about the process of putting together a personal tribute to Billy Holiday, working with James Carter, and a lifetime in jazz that has culminated in this very moment.

Check out Dee Dee Bridgewater: Dee Dee on Billie at AAJ today!