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Some things just come together over time — Bob Dylan and rock, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Dianne Reeves and the JazzSLC concert series.
Reeves will headline the season opener Friday, Sept. 9, at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City.
A Denver native, Reeves has performed so many times with JazzSLC, she's lost count. It sort of feels like home.
"There's this intimate exchange that happens onstage for musicians," she says. "We're always inviting our audience into the music. It makes for a really nice kind of magic that happens. In Salt Lake City, people are really attentive and active listeners. I love that."
Growing up in Colorado in the 1960s, 59-year-old Reeves says she drew on multiple genres and artists for inspiration. In her family, music was defined less by boundaries and more by how it made you feel, rhythm and melody.
"Jazz is really my foundation. But I'm a product of the times I grew up in," she says. "Music wasn't talked about in terms of genre, just in terms of what was good and not good."
Reeves started with piano lessons at age 10. These days, she uses the instrument to compose. She plans to perform work from a new album tentatively scheduled for release next year, but also draw on her most recent release, "Beautiful Life," from 2014. A celebration of the joy of existence, the Grammy-nominated album pulled together tracks from Bob Marley, Fleetwood Mac, Ani DiFranco and Marvin Gaye and mixed them in with her originals.
JazzSLC founder Gordon Hanks says Reeves' "breathtaking voice is one not to be missed."
A longtime Jazz standard-bearer, Reeves is a four-time Grammy winner. She's performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was the first creative jazz chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She recorded the soundtrack for the George Clooney movie "Good Night and Good Luck."
Reeves just returned from a two-month world tour, with stops in Italy, France, Poland, the Czech Republic and two shows with Sergio Mendez at the Hollywood Bowl in August. Salt Lake City will kick off a series of concerts throughout the U.S.
After Reeves, JazzSLC continues throughout the year. Five new acts are part of the lineup: In November, The New York Five will perform. Sean Jones brings his quartet to town in February. In April, pianist Gerald Clayton will play with a quintet. And in May, the Marsalis New Orleans Jazz Jam, under trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, will take the stage.
Some familiar faces also will return to JazzSLC — the Monty Alexander Trio in October, celebrating a 40th anniversary, pianist Michel Camilo in January, and bossa nova singer Stacey Kent in an "exclusive and rare" U.S. tour date in March, Hanks says. Dianne Reeves
When • Friday, Sept. 9, 7:30 p.m.
Where • Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City
Tickets • $33.50; https://artsaltlake.org or 801-355-ARTS