Vocalist Dianne Reeves and Pianist Keith Jarrett to perform at Symphony Center

Defender Staff Report

Symphony Center will be ablaze this weekend as two jazz greats prepare to do what they do best: dazzle the audience.

Grammy-award winning Dianne Reeves is scheduled to perform at Jazz at the Symphony Center Friday at 8 p.m. Her performance will be followed Saturday by innovative improvisations with jazz pianist Keith Jarrett's solo performance.

Reeves, who has become a jazz vocalist great, has recorded and performed extensively with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra. She was also featured on a recording of the songs of Duke Ellington with Daniel Barenboim and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Her list of firsts and bests includes performances at famed music halls, as well as on the Big screen Heeyes was the first singer to ever perform at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and was appointed as the first creative chair for jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Last year, Reeves appeared in George Clooney's Academy Award-nominated film Good Night, and Good Luck. The film's soundtrack recording handed Reeves her fourth Best Jazz Vocal Grammy in 2006.

A classically trained pianist, Jarrett began his recording collaboration with ECM Records in 1971, a relationship that has produced more than 60 recordings to date.

The foundation of the Jarrett/ECM discography consists of landmark solo piano recordings which have helped to redefine the role of the piano in contemporary music.

In Sept. 2006, ECM released The Carnegie Hall Concert, a 2-CD set of solo piano improvisations recorded live in 'New York, Jarrett's first solo concert, release ever recorded in the US.

For the past two decades, Jarrett's main vehicle for ensemble jazz has been his trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The trio released 17 award-winning recordings - mostly live in major cities such as Paris, New York, London and Tokyo.

Jarrett's many international honors include Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Ministry of Culture, membership in the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, the Miles Davis prize and eight Grammy nominations.

Jarrett has the distinction of being the first jazz musician ever to perform improvised music at several of the world's most important music venues, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Musikverein in Vienna, and at La Scala at Milan.