Dianne Reeves - Come To The River (Radio Version) (1994) HQ Jazz/Soul

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Dianne Elizabeth Reeves (born October 23, 1956) is an American jazz singer born in Detroit, Michigan, into a musical family. Her father sang, her mother played trumpet, her uncle is bassist Charles Burrell, and her cousin is the late George Duke. Her father died when she was two years old, and she was raised in Denver, Colorado, by her mother, Vada Swanson, and maternal family. Reeves was raised Catholic and attended Cure D'Ars Catholic School in Denver for much of her early schooling.

In 1971, she started singing and playing piano. She was a member of her high-school band, and while performing at a convention in Chicago was noticed by trumpeter Clark Terry, who invited her to sing with him. She studied classical voice at the University of Colorado.

Reeves moved to Los Angeles, where she sang and recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Lenny White, and Billy Childs. She recorded with the band Caldera, then founded the band Night Flight with Billy Childs, with whom she would collaborate again in the 1990s. She moved to New York City and from 1983 to 1986 toured with Harry Belafonte.

She signed with Blue Note in 1987 and that year her eponymous album, featuring Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, and Tony Williams, was nominated for a Grammy Award. She went on to win five Grammy Awards. Reeves is a superior interpreter of lyrics and a skilled scat singer. Her sound has been compared to that of Patti Austin, Vanessa Rubin, Anita Baker, and Regina Belle.

Reeves recorded more than 20 albums. "Art & Survival" from 1994 is one of them. The album peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. It has sold more than 500,000 copies. Sheryl Lee Ralph sang part of "Endangered Species" during her 2022 Emmy Awards acceptance speech. The album was produced by Eddie del Barrio and Terri Lyne Carrington. Reeves cowrote more than half the songs on "Art & Survival". Due to industry and personal issues, she went into the recording studio knowing that "Art & Survival" could be her final album.

The song 'Come To The River' was mend to be the single of the album but it was never commercially released. 'Come To The River' invites all to be bathed in soothing, soulful rhythms. The gospel overtones mingle seamlessly with jazz. Reeves' sure, knowing, gutsy rendering of each lyric strikes a responsive chord within. It's almost as if she's lived each song she sings.