DINAH SHORE
WEEKEND
WELCOMES WOMEN AND ALL THAT JAZZ
INTRODUCING THE PALM SPRINGS WOMEN’S JAZZ FESTIVAL by lisa lipsey
D-I-N-A-H is almost here… Love it, but the last
time I went was five years ago. Each year since, my wife and I talk about it, laugh about it, then forget about it… because, well, maybe we out- grew it. I’m over the belly-flopping bikini-babe who gets chlorine in my drink, the claustropho- bic club dances and the girls in the room next door still partying at 3 a.m.—like vampires at a blood bank. Still, there is this longing… Nothing gives me an
ear-to-ear grin like an all women, all weekend event and Palm Springs in springtime. There are a whole lot of settled, wiser Lesbians who just want to have fun. We drink martinis and wine, not vodka/ Redbull. We relax by the pool, some even in one-piece suits! We enjoy fine cuisine, a sultry jazz and blues dinner show and we dance away the night to that. That’s the kind of weekend that calls to me like a siren. Sweet Baby Jai, the talented musician is calling to me and you—come back baby—to the newest Dinah Shore Weekend event, The Palm Springs Women’s Jazz Festival. “It’s for women by women”, she says, “it’s a women in music celebration. It’s got everything, jazz, blues, Latin, New Orleans Zydeco, dinners, a White Party poolside jam session, a screening of the film Girls in the Band, pub crawls, a city tour and a jazz greats tribute brunch.” As musical director, Jai is working closely with
producers Lucy and Gail, “You know Lucy and Gail, they bring us events I love like Dinah in Color, Dinah does Vegas and Dinah Does San Francisco.
It’s a beautiful collaboration. It’s about the music, everyone loves music, it’s the common thread that weaves us and brings us together. We are grass-root people coming together; we’ve identified a need, a craving. Club Skirts has got that 20-something club crowd down—we’re an alternative—here to have wonderful creative fun. Sweet Baby Jai brought Jazz to Dinah because, “It’s
awesome, you don’t know what you are going to get. People who don’t know true jazz think they will hear one long trumpet solo. Jazz is improve, an explosion of music, it’s all-encompassing, I could listen to one
got pianist Karen Hammack, violinist Lesa Terry, saxophonist Carol Chaikin, drummer Suzanne Morrissette, bassist Robin Bramlett and “LA” on congas and so many more. Generally I am not able to put all this talent together for one event, but this is something that needed doing. I called up my friends; it was very sweet; they all said ‘what can I help you with?’” The festival runs Thursday, April 4 through
Sunday, April 7 and the Friday night headliner is Sweet Baby Jai and herDinah All-Star Band. She is a self-described pot of stew, “What happens with me,
Carmen Lundy Carol Chaikin Patrice Rushen Suede Sweet-Baby-J’ai Tia Fuller
jazz standard for an entire night, sung 100 times and each one will be different. Just by playing with the ar- rangement, inversion, switching around instruments and vocal styles, it won’t sound anything like what was just played—that’s just so cool!” She continues, “We’ve got so many greats, Yve
Evans, Sherry Pruitt and theQueens of the Blues, Grammy award-winning drummer Terri Lyne Car- rington, multi-Grammy nominee, Patrice Rushen, considered one of the best pianists in the country.Tia Fuller, from the Beyonce band, on sax, internation- ally known artist Carmen Lundy on vocals, we’ve
I put a little of everything in a pot of stew, jazz is all en- compassing, I am like a gumbo… a little this and that, some zydeco, a washboard and spoons. That makes a down home, back porch Mississippi sound. Jazz is fee spirited and much more forgiving than other genres. The record companies label me as Jazz because they need a place to put my CD, sometimes I call myself a soul singer because I give you everything I got, but that’s not where you’ll find me in the record store.”
For schedule of events, tickets, more details and to plan your stay, go to
lucyandgail.com.
MARCH 2013 | RAGE monthly 49
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