August 2001

Philly Jazz
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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."