[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4420-4421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DIANNE REEVES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2006

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the extraordinary 
accomplishments of a remarkable woman in the 1st Congressional District 
of Colorado. It is both fitting and proper that we recognize Dianne 
Reeves for her preeminent artistic achievement and her excellence in 
numerous creative endeavors.
  Dianne Reeves has used her talent, skill and energy to create an 
inimitable musical and artistic presence for which she has received 
international acclaim. She came to our community from Detroit, Michigan 
where she and her sister Sharon were raised by their grandmother. 
Dianne inherited a love of music from her parents and as a child, took 
piano lessons and sang at every opportunity. While singing with the 
George Washington High School big band, she was spotted by jazz 
trumpeter Clark Terry at the National Association of Jazz Educators 
Conference in Chicago where the band took first place in the 1974 jazz 
festival. She studied music at the University of Denver before moving 
to Los Angeles in 1976. Dianne experimented with various musical genres 
including Latin American music and toured with Eduardo Del Barrio's 
group ``Caldera.'' She sang with the Billie Child's ``Night Flights'' 
jazz band and later toured with both Sergio Mendez and Harry Belafonte 
as his lead singer.
  In 1987, Reeves was the first vocalist signed to the reactivated Blue 
Note/EMI label. Reeves has recorded with Daniel Barenboin and the 
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin 
Philharmonic and she has also recorded and performed extensively with 
Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Over the course 
of numerous recordings and hundreds of live performances, Dianne Reeves 
has burnished a reputation as a versatile and vivacious singer who has 
been compared to such masters of jazz as Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah 
Washington, Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughn.
  Dianne Reeves is in a class by herself. She won her fourth Best Jazz 
Vocal Grammy Award for the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed Good 
Night, And Good Luck, which chronicles Edward R. Murrow's confrontation 
with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Dianne is the only artist to have three 
consecutive recordings win in the jazz vocal category--A Little 
Moonlight, The Calling: A Tribute to Sarah Vaughn and In the Moment, 
She is an Ella Fitzgerald Award recipient and was awarded the Denver 
Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. She was the first Creative 
Chair for Jazz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and has 
performed throughout Europe and Asia. Reeves is the first 
internationally renowned jazz artist to perform in Qatar and recently, 
she was the featured performer at UNICEF's Annual Gala in New York 
City.
  We are indeed fortunate to have an artist of such consummate 
reputation and international acclaim in our community. She has mastered 
a wide range of styles and interpretation, all of which reflect both a 
perceptive and unique artistic ability and skill. Her artistic 
sensibilities are set apart by a fidelity to the spirit of various 
compositions and renderings of notable artists; by an intimate 
expression of mood and emotion and a style of singular elegance, 
sophistication and grace.
  We owe much to our artists as they have the unique ability to distill 
our cultural essence from our collective experience. Please join me in 
commending Dianne Reeves, a distinguished artist. Her gifts enhance our 
culture and her contributions have enriched the American Experience.

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