Cankarjev dom, Gallus Hall, July 2, 2026<\/strong> – We Exist! \u2013 Dee Dee Bridgewater Quartet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dee Dee Bridgewater<\/strong> \u2013 vocals; Alexis Lombre <\/strong>\u2013 piano; Rosa Brunello <\/strong>\u2013 bass; Shirazette Tinnin<\/strong> \u2013 drums<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some songs never stop asking the same difficult questions. Decades after they were written, they continue to speak of injustice, inequality, and the struggle for dignity because the world has yet to answer them. Dee Dee Bridgewater’s current project, We Exist!, is built around precisely those songs. Presented on the second evening of the 67th Ljubljana Jazz Festival, it brought together Bridgewater with pianist Alexis Lombre, bassist Rosa Brunello, and drummer Shirazette Tinnin for a performance that was as musically compelling as it was socially engaged. Conceived in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and driven by a determination to amplify voices too often unheard, We Exist! demonstrated that jazz remains not only a living tradition, but also a powerful means of confronting the present.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before Bridgewater took the stage, the quartet established the hypnotic bass line of People Make the World Go Round. When she joined them, she did not begin by singing. Instead, she addressed the audience, speaking candidly about why We Exist! matters to her. She described the project as an attempt to challenge patriarchal structures in jazz, create opportunities for women, encourage artists to support one another, and stand up for democracy in increasingly disturbing times. Once she began to sing, every lyric carried unmistakable purpose. When words alone were not enough, Bridgewater extended the message through astonishing scat improvisations, using the full range of her voice as another expressive language. Her unmistakable energy and theatrical presence immediately drew the audience into the performance, making the music and its message inseparable. The quartet never functioned as mere accompaniment; each musician became an active voice in the conversation. Alexis Lombre opened Percy Mayfield’s The Danger Zone, originally recorded by Ray Charles in 1961, with beautifully phrased blues lines. As Bridgewater delivered lyrics that felt written for today’s world\u2014”you see the world is in the uproar, the danger zone is everywhere”\u2014the quartet followed every nuance of her storytelling. At one point, they dropped almost to silence, allowing her voice to carry the weight of the words before gradually building towards a stunning vocal cadenza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosa Brunello impressed not only as the group’s rhythmic anchor but also as a highly imaginative soloist. After her blues solo on the preceding number, she introduced Roberta Flack’s Tryin’ Times with an atmospheric unaccompanied double bass improvisation, using the bracelets on her wrist almost as additional percussion. As another piano solo emerged, Brunello quietly switched to electric bass, creating a deep backbeat together with Tinnin. Bridgewater responded with growing intensity, repeating “Tryin’ Times” until the words became a cry rather than a lyric before launching into an exhilarating call-and-response with the drums, before launching into an exhilarating call-and-response with the drums, fully immersed in the musical dialogue as she danced around the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The programme unfolded as a journey through songs of resistance, social justice, and long-unheeded warnings that remain painfully relevant today. Nina Simone formed an important part of that lineage. Before performing Mississippi Goddam, Bridgewater reminded the audience that Simone had described the piece as a show tune for a show yet to be written. Bridgewater offered her own interpretation: today, it has become the show tune for the world we continue to inhabit. Remaining largely faithful to Simone’s original 1963 arrangement, she nevertheless infused the performance with unmistakably contemporary urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, Bridgewater reflected on her friendship with its composer, Dr. Billy Taylor, who invited her to perform at the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival in Washington and remained an important mentor until his death in 2010. By the song’s conclusion, she transformed its central line from longing into affirmation, singing: “I know how it feels to be free.” In a single lyrical change, she shifted the song from hope into affirmation. The final part of the concert paid tribute to Abbey Lincoln, another artist who profoundly shaped Bridgewater’s musical life. She recalled that Lincoln had once been her neighbour in Los Angeles and had asked her to promise that she would record her songs after her passing. This year, Bridgewater is fulfilling that promise with a forthcoming album dedicated to Lincoln’s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the Ljubljana audience, she chose Throw It Away and And It’s Supposed to Be Love. Before the first, she spoke about the importance of remaining positive and letting go of destructive thoughts, inviting the audience to join her in singing: “Cause you can never lose a thing if it belongs to you.” Lombre switched to electric piano, subtly changing the ensemble’s sound, while on And It’s Supposed to Be Love Brunello entered another spirited dialogue with Bridgewater and Brunello exchanged phrases as the singer effortlessly moved between words, scat, and whistles, extending her expression beyond the conventional vocal range.
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Songs that continue to speak<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nCarrying the lineage forward<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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