Jazz singer Dee Daniels’ upcoming performance with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra is called “My Favorite Things.”
Her performance is scheduled to include a mix of songs and genres that lives up to the concert’s theme — songs made famous by Billie Holiday, “God Bless the Child;” Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On;” Elvis Presley, “Are you Lonesome Tonight;” and Nat King Cole, “Nature Boy.”
Then there’s the mystery song. “I gotta save some,” Daniels said, with a chuckle.
But here’s a hint. “My first music was gospel music,” she said. “Any opportunity I have, I add at least one gospel selection to the set list. I’m planning on doing that, too.”
By calling the program “My Favorite Things,” she said it allows her to share genres of music that she’s been involved with her whole career.
“I wasn’t always a jazz singer,” Daniels said in a recent telephone interview. “To me, music is music as long as it’s good music. And it touches me.”
Daniels will be performing with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, a 17-member group with which she has long been associated.
The group, known by its initials SRJO, is now in its 23rd season. It’s led by saxophonist Michael Brockman. Prominent solos will be played by saxophonists Alex Dugdale and Mark Taylor, trumpeter Jay Thomas and trombonist Dan Marcus.
Two Mountlake Terrace High School students, Sophie Parsons, on bass, and Gian Neri, on guitar, will perform some songs with the group.
Local audiences may naturally associate Daniels with her long connection to the annual DeMiero Jazz Fest in Edmonds, where she was artistic director from 2011 until this year.
But her performances at the festival date to the late ’70s when it was founded by Frank DeMiero.
Daniels said her stint as artistic director was an honor. It was a bittersweet departure. Scheduling conflicts with her ongoing pops programs with symphonies around the nation forced her to relinquish the role.
Next year’s pops program, entitled, “Unforgettable Natalie Cole,” will be performed with fellow Canadian Denzal Sinclaire.
Her upcoming project is work on a new album, with recording scheduled to start this week in Chicago. “I am finally fulfilling a longtime dream of recording a gospel CD,” she said. It’s scheduled for release early next year.
She said all the songs on the album are original compositions that came to her through meditation while being treated for breast cancer in 2015. “It’s an honor to share these songs,” she said. “They’re all very personal.”
One stirring, deeply emotional performance of one of her original compositions, “Healed,” can be viewed online.
Asked if it was an unusually demanding song to perform, she said: “What I learned from my personal experience — physically, mentally, emotionally — I chose to share it.
“It’s not hard. It’s just a decision to be open and honest. I don’t hold anything back.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
If you go
The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra will be performing with singer Dee Daniels at 7:30 p.m. June 18 at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Tickets are $10 for students, $35 for adults and $33 for those 65 and up. More at www.edmondscenterforthearts.org.
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