Dee Dee Bridgewater: A Jazz musician's African journey

Dee Dee Bridgewater's Red Earth - A Malian Journey, takes her distinctive jazz voice and knowledge and carries this over into her vision -- a journey to retrace her African roots to Mali and create a jazz fusion of the two cultures.

The serious and acclaimed Jazz singer who has sung with big Jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins or Ray Charles explains in a press release, "It [the album] was an idea I first had when doing Horace Silver’s music, which is so syncopated and rhythmic."

Accordingly, the resulting Grammy nominated album Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver strengthened her desire to further investigate African music.

"Red Earth is neither fusion nor compromise but a happy meeting of African musicianship and Afro-American romanticism," said The Guardian of London.

When Bridgewater was elected in 1999 as one of the United Nations’ first Ambassadors for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bridgewater was able travel to Africa, visiting villages involved with various FAO programs. Over the years, Bridgewater collected a library of music from all over Africa, including, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Congo, Benin and South Africa and Madagascar amongst others.

The music of Mali stopped Bridgewater in her tracks. “Whenever I heard it, I would get a jolt.” Bridgewater recalls."I had an inexplicable knowledge and ability to scat to and comprehend this rhythm and music.” Bridgewater's connection to Malian 'blues' led her to the aide of Cheick Tidiane Seck, who had produced jazz pianist Hank Jones‘ 1995 celebrated Verve release Sarala, to serve as a musical chaperone.

Red Earth - A Malian Journey, melds Malian voices, music and traditional instruments with American Jazz vernacular and penning many of the lyrics. The album combines leading artists from Mali - including Check Tidiane Seck and Baba Sissoko - with Dee Dee's own jazz group.