Monte-Carlo Jazz Festival - Dee Dee Bridgewater - Stefano di Battista

The winner of three Grammy Awards and one Tony Award for theatre, Dee Dee Bridgewater is one of the biggest performers and singers in the history of modern jazz.

Born in 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee, where her father taught the trumpet, Denise Eileen Garrett grew up listening to blues, jazz, and rhythm and blues songs on the radio. She joined the female vocal trio The Iridescents, through which she made a name for herself with her powerful, deep voice in the clubs of Michigan. She later sang with her university’s band in Illinois. After moving to New York, she joined the famous Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band, where she sang with jazz musicians such as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillepsie and Max Roach. Her career took off. Recognised with a Tony Award for her role in musical "The Wiz", she then moved to Los Angeles and subsequently appeared in a number of musicals – this was what sparked her love of France – and off-Broadway/West End productions such as "Lady Day", for which she received an Olivier Award nomination. After several albums drawing on pop, funk, and rhythm and blues, she began to produce her own music, then established DDB Records in 2006 with Universal Music Group. Her self-produced recordings, "Dear Ella", a tribute to Ella Fitzgerland, "Eleonora Fagan" and others won several Grammy Awards and nominations, and were critically acclaimed. In her multifaceted career, Dee Dee Bridgewater emerged as one of the great jazz vocalists. The diva is also a United Nations (UN) Goodwill Ambassador, Jazz Master of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Champion of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and a Doris Duke artist. She has also been inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, which honours musical icons from Memphis.

An iconic artist with traditional roots, Italian saxophonist Stefano di Battista directs his enthusiasm in service of his Italian roots in the album "La Dolce Vita".

Stefano di Battista began playing the saxophone at the age of 13. Born in Rome in 1969, this fan of Art Pepper and Julian Cannonball Adderley started out playing popular music. With his determination to become a jazz musician strengthened by a meeting with Massimo Urbani, he headed to Paris on the advice of pianist Jean-Pierre Como, co-founder of the jazz rock group Sixun. It was there that he crossed paths with the drummer Aldo Romano, with whom he went on to work on two records, and the bandleader Laurent Cugny, who hired him as a soloist in his new Orchestre National de Jazz. After several albums characterised by the virtuosity of his neo hard bop style, Stefano di Battista tackled the exceptional Ennio Morricone brilliantly, paying tribute to the Italian composer, with whom he had been lucky enough to work, in the album "Morricone Stories" released in 2021. Bolstered by his public success, with more than 30 concerts in France as part of a quartet, in 2024 he unveiled a new album with his Franco-Italian group, this time drawing on a repertoire focused on Italian music. A lover of melody and a magician when it comes to tone, Stefano casts a whole new light on the themes made famous by Paolo Conte, Andrea Bocelli and Lucio Dalla, while showcasing composers like Renato Carosone and Nino Rota. Here, he reunites with his high-flying acolytes and adds Italian trumpeter Matteo Cutello to his quartet