August 2001
Philly Jazz
Archive
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Diane Schurr: Still Singing & Swinging
By Donald True Van Deusen
Diane Schurr, the blind singer, born in Tacoma, Washington, who dazzled jazz
and pop music fans across the country when she first gained recognition in
the mid 70s, will be demonstrating that perfect pitch voice Aug. 2 at 7&9:30
P.M.and Aug. 3 at 9&11 P.M. at the Zanzibar Blue, Broad and Walnut Streets,
(215-732-4500) for just a $30 cover charge.
Deedles, as Diane is often called by friends, started out as a young
teenager listening to the Dinah Washington and Ray Charles recordings. Her
first record in 1971 was, interestingly, a country single produced by Jimmy
Wakely. You can fairly say of her singing, that she covers the waterfront.
She graduated to jazz, did a gospel suite at the behest of Doc Severinsen at
the 1975 Monterey Jazz Festival and captivated Stan Getz at the Monterey Jazz
Festival in 1979. Getz was quoted as saying, "I couldn't believe what I was
hearing."
Although a big hit with Getz and even Nancy Reagan through a White House
appearance, Schurr more or less floundered in northwest clubs until her first
album. Leonard Feather, the reputed dean of jazz critics, said after hearing
her album, "Deedles" wrote, that she was "a singer who had all the right
qualities--technique, range, adaptability to various pop, gospel, jazz and
blues concepts."
Between 1984 and l997, Schurr made ll albums for GRP, plus two "best of
collections" won back-to-back Grammies, appeared worldwide at various shows
and was signed by Concord Records in 1999. Whether she is singing the old
jazz anthem, "How High The Moon" or such tunes as "Easy Living" from her new
album, Friends For Schurr, he voice is matchless. Her own quote sums it up:
"When I Sing, I feel this warmth extending from my heart, out towards the
people in the audience."
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