The Dream I Dreamed, the highly anticipated new recording from jazz singer and songwriter Michael Dees, features 14 newly minted songs all written by Dees. Considered one the great male jazz vocalists with a long and stellar career, Dees has an immediately identifiable sound and style. His straight-ahead vocals coupled with his words and music strip away sentimentality and go to the very heart of love's highs and lows.
Personnel: Michael Dees: Vocals Terry Trotter: Piano Chuck Berghofer: Bass Steve Schaeffer: Drums Don Williams: Percussion Doug Webb: Tenor Saxophone Bob Sheppard: Tenor Saxophone and Clarinet Chuck Manning: Tenor Saxophone Steve Huffsteter: Trumpet and Flugelhorn Sal Marquez: Trumpet
What makes this new album of Michael's so exciting is that he also wrote the words and music. It is unusual today to find this combination in male jazz vocalists. There is a sincerity in what Michael writes and sings. He strips away most of the flower and ornamentation we are used to hearing from male jazz vocalists singing the Great American Songbook and instead gives us an intimate reading of love's challenges and joys. This is a man speaking and singing from the heart and a road well-traveled.
Michael Dees is joined by L.A. jazz greats Terry Trotter on Piano, Chuck Berghofer on Bass, Steve Schaeffer on Drums, Don Williams on Percussion, and guest soloists Doug Webb on Tenor Saxophone, Bob Sheppard on Tenor Saxophone and Clarinet, Chuck Manning on Tenor Saxophone, Steve Huffsteter on Trumpet and Flugelhorn, and Sal Marquez on Trumpet.
"His words and his music make a promise to us,
His voice keeps it."
- Arthur Hamilton
"Michael could always sing wonderfully in the tradition. And now, it's a real pleasure to hear him writing in the tradition.
We applaud them both."
-Alan & Marilyn Bergman
"Michael has spent his career singing other people's songs and making them sound better.
This time around, Michael is singing his own songs and they sound great. Congrats, Michael!"
