Dee Dee Bridgewater with Theo Crocker’s DVRK FUNK Band

Annamaria Alfieri | January 5, 2015

Dee Dee Bridgewater

with Theo Crocker’s DVRK FUNK Band

Iridium, NYC, January 2, 2015

Reviewed by Annamaria Alfieri for Cabaret Scenes

The day after “Universal Hangover Day” requires star power and pure jazz energy to create excitement. Dee Dee Bridgewater and DVRK FUNK Band had what it takes. The opening instrumental, “The Fifth Dimension,” began as a showcase of individual talents, but ended with a nice, tight duet by Theo Crocker (trumpet) and Irwin Hall (saxophone), promising what was to come. Once Bridgewater joined in with Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro Blue,” the group coalesced in a big way, also including solo turns by Crocker and Michael King on piano. Bridgewater gave Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” a seductive and mirthful voice, scat singing in call and response with Crocker and Hall.

Her “Save Your Love for Me,” spoke straight from the heart. “I’m kinda literal,” she said. The international crowd read her and loved it. She made plenty of room for individual talents of the musicians. In “Fine and Mellow” she channeled Billie Holiday and then, in her own words, “deconstructed Billie” in a trumpet voice that imitated a muted Clark Terry. Abbey Lincoln’s “The Music Is Magic” turned things contemplative, but then the evening ended with a swinging “A Foggy Day (in London Town)” that brought out a brilliant solo by bassist Eric Wheeler and long drum riff by Kass Overall that reached altered states of consciousness.

Tags: “Save Your Love for Me, A Foggy Day in London Town, Abbey Lincoln, American Songbook, Annamaria Alfieri, Billie Holiday, Cabaret Scenes, Clark Terry, Cole Porter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eric Wheeler, Female Jazz Vocalist, Female Vocalist, Great American Songbook, Iridium NYC, Irwin Hall, Jazz, Jazz Clubs, Jazz Singer, Jazz Vocalist, Kass Overall, Love for Sale, Michael King, Popular Song, Songbook, The Music Is Magic, Theo Crocker DVRK FUNK Band