Live & Local: Dianne Reeves stops by KUVO ahead of Denver Jazz Fest
Introduced as “NEA Jazz Master and homegirl,” Dianne Reeves visited The Morning Set on Thursday, February 6, 2025, to chat and pick out some tunes in the 9 o’clock hour. Still, a bit early for most jazz artists, Ms. Reeves’ eyes brightened when we said, “Pick out some music to play on the radio.” She grabbed her phone and started calling out tunes. (Abi is scrambling at this point to keep up!)
Here are the tunes she settled on:
- Song Yi Jeon, “Dancing Stars” (title track)
- Sean Jones, “Allison,” (“Kaleidoscope”)
- Renee Rosnes, “Ancient Footprints” (“Art & Soul”)
- Terri Lyne Carrington, “Two Hearts (Lawns)” (“New Standards, Vol. 1”)
- Roy Hargrove Quintet, “Strasbourg / St. Denis” (“Earfood”)
Back home in Denver after performing on a jazz cruise, Reeves said she’s easing up on her typically manic global travel schedule. Reeves also teased a new release with her longtime guitar companion Romero Lubambo (still months away), and some other interesting artistic pursuits.
Hang out with us by listening to the conversation and listening to clips of the music below.
Steve Chavis: There's a small crowd of people outside the studio because we have here in the studio NEA Jazz Master and homegirl Diane Reeves. Great to have you with us on the occasion of the Denver Jazz Fest, four days of music, 12 venues, 30 shows, one of them your show at the Newman Center with Romero Lubambo.
Dianne Reeves: Yes, Romero Lubambo is my longtime friend, I refer to him as my brother from another mother. He's from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And we've been working together since Woo! The late nineties, I think. Actually, our first record, you guys played songs from that record, from the Bridges record. That was our first record together
SC: That's Sunday, April 6th at the Newman Center - one of 30 shows at the Denver Jazz Fest, Denverjazz.org. We'll talk more about that, but whose idea, was it? We're going to get Diane to play some music! Danny Reeves, the DJ!
DR: I'm open! I listen to a lot of music.
Carlos Lando: Well, you flipped your phone open and boom. Okay. Abi's over there. 'Okay, what else? What else?'
Abi Clark: I'm working on it!
CL: Grabbing these songs, grabbing these songs! Speaking of Romero Lubambo, I always remember, and I was so appreciative of this, Diane, when you came into the Phyllis A. Greer Performance Studio, back when we were in Five Points at 29th and Welton. It was just you and Romero. It was a duet, and you recorded a take of Misty.
DR: Oh, okay. Yeah?
CL: I remember that. And I remember it fondly because you said that you guys have been doing it on the road together and actually done it in Japan and so forth, but had not yet recorded it for, at the time, Blue Note. and it had not yet been released.
DR: Right!
CL: And so, I asked you after that, and I think I sent you.. I don't even know if I had to send you a copy, but I just called you up and said, 'Hey, we would really love to conclude this tune on Live at the Oasis. Our albums that we put together with people, and you said, 'go ahead, use it! It's something that I'm going to release later on down the line, but you'll be the first one.' And that was such a beautiful take. We play it from time to time. You can only get it on KUVO!
DR: That's right!
CL: So again, just thanking you personally for that. Well, after all these years, Diane, when you look around and the appreciation for this music we call jazz, seems to me we're in a real renaissance right now.
DR: I think so.
CL: And there are so many young, talented singers and people, and you having gone through all of that in your career, right? Going back to the seventies, here we are all these years later, how does it feel to when you meet some of these young people or they meet you, and it's kind of like, maybe it was like you meeting Sarah back in the day when you were really, really young.
DR: It's funny that you should say that. A lot of them I work with, you know? I have very strong relationships with (them), because one of the things that I love about growing up here in Denver is as a young singer, all the vocalists, the local vocalists, would always ask me to join them on stage and be a part of everything, create this community. Because a lot of times in the industry, it is like they would say singers don't get along and all that kind of stuff, but I didn't come up in that. And so being around all of these really beautiful new voices, and like I said, I know 'em all. I'm excited because it just says that the music is not going anywhere. It's in a good place. They're just extraordinary musicians. They're all defining their own voices, which is really, really important, which you don't have a lot in some of the pop music, everybody starts sounding the same. But in jazz, it's about having your own voice. And so, you have all of these beautiful ways of expressing this music and it's bringing a whole new audience in.
CL: Dianne Reeves is in the studio with us this morning. Dianne's back home for a while. First of all, thank you for joining us on the Morning Set on this Thursday. Dianne, the inevitable question that most people always want to know about is what's happening with you musically? What are you working on? What can we expect to hear in terms of new recordings?
DR: Well, I have a couple of things that I'm in the process of doing. Right now, just completed a duet record. After all these years of working with Romero, we never recorded a record together. And we just finished this past summer, actually recorded here in Denver. And so that's coming out. It's called Us and it's just all the songs that we've done over the years and some new things. So, I'm really excited about that. I'm currently working on my bigger record and then I have another project that I really can't say a whole lot about, but I'm doing a project with Branford Marsalis, and we record in August. So, it's been a while. I haven't had a record out since 2013. But it doesn't feel like it. I think the older you get, the shorter the years are. But no, a lot of things have happened over that time and other interests and other things, so yeah.
SC: The Denver Jazz Fest is coming up April 3 through 6 with 12 venues across Metro Denver and Boulder. 30 shows, including Ms. Dianne Reeves on Sunday, April 6, an afternoon 4 p.m. show at Newman Center. You're going to want some information on this event. It's Denverjazz.org. Dianne Reeves in the building, in the house!
DR: Glad to be here and I'm really excited about this festival. I love how Denver has always really celebrated jazz music all the way back from Dick Gibson, remember?
CL: Of course!
DR: And Five Points and all of these different things that have always been there to celebrate this music. And this is exciting because it's going to be in so many venues, so that it is just going to be like a festival atmosphere where you just go around, and you hear folks. There are a lot of other festivals that have that kind of thing. And it keeps the energy, and the excitement lifted when you have that. And then artists can go see other artists, which is really nice!
Four days of music April 3-6, 12 venues, 30 shows: Details: Denver Jazz Fest
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