Jazz singer Dianne Reeves heads to Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Dianne Reeves knows her way around a jazz song.
The singer, who has won four Grammy awards for Best Jazz Vocal Performance on her albums, will perform alongside Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Gregory Porter at 8 p.m. Friday at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
Reeves said she and Porter will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Billie Holiday’s birth by performing a few songs by the late jazz singer and songwriter nicknamed “Lady Day.”
Also in Friday’s program are tracks from Reeve’s recently released album, “Beautiful Life,” which is nominated for the 2015 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album and showcases covers of Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and Ani DiFranco’s “32 Flavors.”
“They’re all songs I love,” Reeves said Tuesday. “It was like creating a tapestry of songs and words in different rhythms.”
“Beautiful Life,” which Reeves said celebrates life within the framework of 21st-century jazz, features a cast including pianists Robert Glasper and Gerald Clayton and accompanying vocalists Porter and Lalah Hathaway.
“I love him and we have mutual admiration for each other,” she said of Porter.
Reeves has been a frequent guest in the Segerstrom Center’s jazz series since the late 1980s.
Aaron Egigian, the center’s senior director of music programming, said one of his favorite songs on her current album is Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You.”
“She performs that rendition exceptionally, and I’m keeping hopeful that she’ll perform that song live,” he said in an email. “It’s wonderful to have Dianne on a double bill that includes the incredible Gregory Porter. He will surely rouse the room. This is his debut performance at the center and the beginning of many return visits.”
Reeves, who has recorded and performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis, was the first singer to perform at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. She appeared throughout George Clooney’s Academy Award-nominated “Good Night, and Good Luck” and performed every song on the Grammy-winning soundtrack.
Reeves said she likes to arrive early and take her band out to dinner to celebrate her shows.
“I have an incredible group,” she said. “Part of the magic is we’ll have a good time.”
Tickets to Friday’s performance start at $29. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is at 600 Town Center Drive.
For more information, call (714) 556-2787 or visit scfta.org.