Blue Note recording artist Dianne Reeves, recognized as the pre-eminent singer of jazz, will perform with the Oregon Symphony at the Portland Jazz Festival on Valentine's Day 2009. The festival will be celebrating the 70th anniversary for the legendary Blue Note recording label.

Reeves never fails to awe worldwide audiences with her unique jazz stylings. She has gained an ever-growing fan base as well much critical claim. In 2006, she received a record breaking fourth consecutive Best Jazz Vocal Grammy. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as the first singer to ever perform at the famous Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Reeves has recorded and performed extensively with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, as well as with Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim. She also worked with the legendary producer Arif Mardin on the collection A Little Moonlight, which features her trio.  Read more »

Seventieth anniversaries are not usually considered a big deal — at least not compared to 75th or 50th ones — but if the folks at Blue Note Records want to treat the label’s 70th as a big deal, who’s going to complain?

There’s an additional hook to the Blue Note celebrations planned for next year: Not only is 2009 the 70th anniversary of the label’s founding by Alfred Lion; it is also the 25th anniversary of its rebirth as an active label under the direction of Bruce Lundvall, who has been in charge ever since. Considering that Blue Note remains a powerful force in the jazz record business at a time when the jazz record business isn’t exactly thriving (even if the label has been cheating a little bit in recent years by signing non-jazz artists like Al Green and Van Morrison), now seems as good a time as any for Blue Note to pay tribute to itself.  Read more »