Jazz singer, vocalist plans 2 local shows

When Dena DeRose performed at The Boat Club at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake in 2011, she and the staff turned the restaurant into an intimate jazz club to rival the best in the world. That night, there wasn’t a spare seat to be had because it sold out.

DeRose is coming back to the valley July 21 and 22 for two shows. She’ll perform July 21 at BruMar Estate in Bigfork and July 22 at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.

On July 21, BruMar Estate will turn its special event lodge into an intimate jazz club for the evening. The Steinway Gallery of Spokane is providing a Steinway grand piano for DeRose to play, and the chef at BruMar has planned a gourmet dinner.

On July 22, DeRose will play on the Steinway concert grand piano at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.

DeRose has performed in world-class venues all over the globe, including Blue Note in New York City; The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Body and Soul in Tokyo; The Jazz Showcase in Chicago; and Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Cadence Magazine awarded DeRose Album of the Year and Best Vocal Jazz Album for “Another World” and “I Can See Clearly Now.” She is beloved by critics and has been compared to jazz singer and pianist Shirley Horn.

Her albums have garnered Grammy nominations, and her “Live at Jazz Standard Volume 2” was chosen one of the Top 10 CDs of 2008 by All About Jazz, Downbeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalists Association. It was in the Top 50 on Jazzweek radio charts for more than 12 weeks.

DeRose began picking out melodies on a toy organ when she was 3. When she was 4, she told people that when she grew up she wanted to be a piano player in New York City.

She studied classical piano until the music of Count Basie got into her soul and she fell in love with jazz. At 17, she began studying with the only jazz teacher in her home town of Binghampton, N.Y.

By the time she went to college, DeRose was performing regularly, giving private lessons and practicing so many hours a day she sometimes slept in her studio. New York City was four hours away, but she’d often make the trip to see her piano idols Hank Jones, Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Barron.

DeRose’s dream of becoming a piano player in New York came true in 1991. But she worked so hard and practiced such long hours that she came down with an aggravated case of carpal tunnel syndrome and had to stop playing piano altogether. That setback taught her she could sing when the music had to come out of her and the piano wasn’t available.

Two years later, when she’d recovered enough to play piano again, DeRose had become a seasoned singer who could accompany herself masterfully, and an accomplished jazz pianist who could also sing.

A brilliant performer, DeRose is an equally dedicated jazz educator. She has been on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, The New School and Long Island University. DeRose currently heads the jazz vocal department at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria.

Clinics and workshops have taken her to the Dave Brubeck Institute in Oakland, Calif.; The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif.; and the Stanford Jazz Workshop. She’s been a judge at the Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition and has served for six years on the New Jersey Star Ledger Scholarship Awards.

She has been featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and Marian McPartlands' “Piano Jazz.”

Her Bigfork show begins at 8 p.m. July 21. Cocktails will be served at 6 p.m., and dinner starts at 7 p.m. Tickets to the concert are $27; dinner is separate. Seating is limited.

DeRose’s July 22 performance in Whitefish begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are available for $23, $25, $27 or $29.

Purchase tickets at singerandsimpson.com. For assistance, call (406) 730-2817.

This event is sponsored by Don “K” Subaru and produced by Singer & Simpson Productions.

For more information, visit www.DenaDeRose.com.