Rubin Performs Tadd Dameron’s Works

Vocalist Vanessa Rubin will pay homage to unsung composer and arranger Tadd Dameron in the world-premiere concert Sing Dameron! The Tadd Dameron Vocal Legacy at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center on Feb. 25 and 26. Frank Foster, Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, and Willie Smith will lend their arranging skills to the performances, and trumpeter/composer/arranger Cecil Bridgewater will be the performance’s musical director.

The concert features songs spanning Dameron’s career and blends his well known songs like “If You Could See Me Now,” “Good Bait,” and “Lady Bird” with some of his lesser known tunes like “I Think I’ll Go Away,” “Weekend,” and “You’re a Joy.”

Dameron was also a pianist and bandleader who rose to prominence during the 1940s and ’50s and wrote for Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan, among others.

Rubin is a Cleveland native who has worked with the Cleveland Jazz All-Stars, Pharoah Sanders and Mercer Ellington. She stated in a press release that Carmen McRae’s Thelonious Monk vocal recording project inspired her to do something similar for Dameron’s works.

“Monk’s music was never really considered among the vocal repertoire until after Carmen Sings Monk,” she said. “However, Dameron being thought of as the romanticist of that period, wrote some beautiful things beyond ‘If You Could See Me Now.’ This program is another way of paying homage to the unsung hero Tadd Dameron, and to our shared hometown.”

Originally Published February 7, 2005