The sleek jazz voice of the Good Night, and Good Luck soundtrack will be sounding a more intuitive note in Dublin, Dianne Reeves tells Arminta Wallace
When you've won four Grammy awards for best jazz vocal, I can't resist asking Dianne Reeves, what do you do with 'em? She laughs.
"Oh, I just have them sitting on my mantelpiece, you know," she says.
She has just clocked up her fourth, for the soundtrack recording of George Clooney's much-praised, Oscar-nominated film about journalist Edward R Murrow's confrontation with Senator Joseph McCarthy, Good Night, and Good Luck. On the phone from her office in Denver, Colorado, Reeves's speaking voice is almost as relaxed and creamy-smooth as her delivery of the 15 jazz standards on the soundtrack CD, which includes I've Got My Eyes on You, Too Close for Comfort, Pretend, How High the Moon and Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall. Listening to the lyrics, however, it becomes evident that - set against the background of McCarthy's anti-intellectual witch-hunt - this is not so much easy musical listening as sharp political shooting, with bullets hitting the target at regular intervals. Somehow the lines "One thing leads to another/ Too late to run for cover/ He's much too close for comfort now" or that strange little song about the monkey riding on the buzzard's back, Straighten Up and Fly Right, take on a considerably darker hue in this narrative company.
Musically, needless to say, the songs fit Reeves's gorgeous voice like sleek satin gloves - as well they might, since she also has a role in the movie, and therefore gets to sing most of them on screen.
"George's office called and asked would I be interested in a part in the movie," she explains. "They asked would I send in a videotape of me singing one of the songs, and I did. I was on my way to Asia, and when I came back I found out that it was a 'go'. Oddly enough, the only other film I've ever done was another film about the same topic, a film called Guilty By Suspicion. I made kind of a cameo appearance in that. But this time I was kind of like one of the actors - and it was fun. George was there, of course, and just really nice and funny, telling stories and . . . just easy to be around."
Did Reeves have any input into the choice of music?
"No, actually, it was George who chose the songs, because they really needed to go with the story," she says. "So those are just songs that he loves. But I love them too. The thing about doing all of these standards is that they have something about them that always rings true. So there's a way to find yourself in all of them."
Does she have a favourite herself?
"Oh, I love doing One for My Baby, I really, really like doing that song," she says.
Doesn't she, though. Mischief bubbles up in the melody as she leans over the bar - metaphorically speaking, of course - and charms the barman: "Set 'em up, Joe."
WHEN SHE CAME to Dublin in 2004 Reeves performed material from her previous Grammy Award-winning album, A Little Moonlight, produced by the legendary Arif Mardin. When she appears on stage at the National Concert Hall in a fortnight's time, however, she will be accompanied by two of the top names on the jazz scene, guitarists Russell Malone and Romero Lubambo. One singer, two guitars, or as her press release describes it, Strings Attached. Either way, it's quite a break from the traditional jazz trio.
But then, breaking from tradition is no big deal for Reeves. Besides performing regularly with such stellar jazz musicians as Wynton Marsalis, she has been known to gig with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as working as creative chair for jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. For sheer experimentation and onstage excitement, however, she says nothing beats the combination of Malone and Lubambo.
"I've worked with these guys on and off for years," she says. "They come from two different, very soulful places."
Malone is one of the world's top jazz guitarists, a self-taught musician who cites among his influences Johnny Cash, BB King and George Benson. He is perhaps best known in recent years for his work with Diana Krall, and also as a featured performer in Robert Altman's 1996 film, Kansas City. Lubambo trained as a classical guitarist in his native Brazil, but soaked up influences from samba, bossa nova, and traditional Brazilian musicians such as Caetano Veloso. Since he left Brazil in 1984 he has played with musicians as diverse as Herbie Mann and Aztec Camera.
"THE THING THAT I love about working with them is that they're really intuitive," says Reeves. "So by the time we get to Dublin, the music is going to be something really special. There's so much improvisation during our concerts, and coming up with ideas on the spot - I mean, we have a repertoire, but it's just going to change from night to night.
"We'll be doing some Brazilian pieces and some stuff from the 1960s and 1970s reworked. We'll also do some songs from the CD - but I can't really say which songs because then, if we don't do them, people might be disappointed."
Well, as the song says: into each life some rain must fall . . .
Dianne Reeves, with guitarists Russell Malone and Romero Lubambo, plays the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on Sat, Apr 22, as part of the Waltons World Masters series