The blues don’t get her down

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Performing in Bremerton will almost be a homecoming for jazz vocalist Diane Schuur — she made her stage debut at the Tacoma Hilton when she was just 9 years old, belting out pop and jazz classics for a hometown audience.

She’s all grown up now, and has had a rich and rewarding career in the world of jazz. She’s won two Grammies for best jazz vocalist, sung at the White House twice and recorded 19 albums. Her first was “Deedles” (her childhood nickname) in 1984. The most recent is the just released “Live in London.”

She performs June 3 at the Admiral Theatre.

Schuur had one of her five senses taken away at birth, when she was blinded by too much oxygen used in her incubator, but she more than made up for it when she found her voice.

She began singing along to records by Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald at just 2 years of age.

With a three-and-a-half octave vocal range and a mega-watt smile, Schuur performed as a guest of Dizzy Gillespie at the 1979 Monterey Jazz Festival, singing a heartfelt version of “Amazing Grace.” It wasn’t strictly jazz, but the audience, and saxophonist Stan Getz, was impressed.

“I couldn’t believe what I heard,” he is reported to have said. “This girl had the makings of somebody with depth and staying power. She takes from the tradition of an Ella (Fitzgerald) and Sarah (Vaughan) and what comes out is her own advancement of that tradition.” It was Getz who introduced her at the White House during a televised performance.

Schuur has recorded with the biggest of the big names in jazz and pop, including B.B. King, Maynard Ferguson and Barry Manilow.

Even the critics love her. Victor L. Schermer, reveiwer at the online magazine All About Jazz, caught her performance at a small blues club in Philadelphia and gushed: “Deedles is one of those miracles of show business who is not only a consummate jazz singer, but a true entertainer who enraptures her audience, creates an aura of incredible energy that radiates in all directions, is a marvel on piano and electronic organ, and a superb bandleader. But the thing about Diane Schuur that is so totally captivating is her personality. She’s a totally authentic and genuine human being — there is nothing affected or phony about her.”

Schuur keeps up a busy touring schedule. The Admiral concert is sandwiched between a show at the National Philharmony Concert Hall in Warsaw, Poland and a gig at the famous Blue Note in New York. Mid June she’s back in Seattle for a week-long engagement at Jazz Alley.

In the meantime, jazz lovers can catch Diane Schuur on this side of the water, 8 p.m. June 3 at the Admiral Theatre, 515 Pacific Ave., Bremerton.

Tickets are $35 main floor and loge, $25 balcony, $66 main floor dinner show, all seats reserved. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m., reservations required. Tickets available at the box office or by phone at (360) 373-6743.