At the time of this interview, jazz pianist/vocalist Diane Schuur (or "Deedles," as she prefers to be called) was relaxing in her Dana Point, Calif., home, drinking a cup of decaf (she calls it "deedle-caf").
"Our kitty just jumped off the bed a few minutes ago," Schuur said, "so she's keeping me company. We flew home yesterday, and I'm still recovering from that a little bit."
It's an easy time to look back at a significant and memorable career. At home in some of the world's most famous venues, Schuur has toured the world and performed with such legends as B.B. King, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Stan Getz. She appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" 11 times and garnered two Grammy awards (and five nominations) for her work.
Of course, Schuur did have an early start. "I started singing when I was 2, and I don't why, but I would go into a closet — I felt safe in there, for some reason. I'm not even sure why, but I would get up around midnight and start singing. Of course, my folks would tell me to shut up. I guess it's probably a good thing that I didn't take their advice too strongly."
By the time she was 9, Schuur was doing professional gigs, including performing at the local Holiday Inn. "I would go to sing at the Lion's Club at Christmastime and I would get a gift. One year I got a transistor radio; another year I got a braille watch."
After performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Schuur's career really took off when she was discovered by Stan Getz. "He got me on the GRP label and helped me to really interpret a song — get the dynamics out and to build up instead of just putting the gymnastics in front."
She's certainly had some highlights during her career, and one of the most memorable happened April 11, 1995, at Seattle's Jazz Alley. "I had finished my set with my group and I was taking bows and everything, when all of a sudden this deep voice says, 'It's time, babe.' And I was thinking, 'What's the emcee saying that for?' And then my husband, Les Crockett — we call him 'Rocket'— he asked me, "Would you marry me, babe?' I was so taken aback — luckily, the piano bench was right underneath me or I would have fallen on my keister. Of course I said yes, so we married the following year.
"It's been a good 11 years. Come to think of it, it's been a good lifetime, filled with making music."
Sipping her coffee, Schuur talked about some of her upcoming projects, including a new album to be released January 2008. "It's going to be basically the post-war genre of classic standards that a lot of people are very familiar with, and a lot of tunes that I really like. One of the tunes is going to be 'Danny Boy.'
"The reason that I selected that particular tune is that this earmarks the 40th anniversary of my mother's death, and that was one of her favorite tunes. We actually have an audio clip of her asking me if I knew that tune, or if I'd ever sung it. We'll probably have that particular clip on the CD, and then I'll just go right into it — I thought that would really be a cool thing to do."
When she comes to Salt Lake City to perform at the Salt Lake International Jazz Festival, Schuur will be going in a different direction. "This is going to be with the big band, we've already got charts. I did an album with the Count Basie Orchestra, and it will be mostly tunes of that nature —'Deedles' Blues,' 'Travel Light,' 'Every Day I Have the Blues' — tunes of that nature."
E-mail: rcline@desnews.com