I read with interest the posts on a good friend of mine, the one and only Jean DuShon, who turned me into an instant fan when I saw her perform at the New Jersey Jazz Festival some years ago. She was there with Count Basie, Joe Williams and the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Need I say, she was spectacular.
We became friends a few years ago and she's a wonderful lady. What's she been up to? When disco came in, Jean stopped recording (save a couple of albums she made with Brother Jack McDuff, "The Fourth Dimension" and "Moon Rappin'." At the urging of actor, Dick Williams, she went into the theatre (off-Broadway). A couple of years later, she was on Broadway in the hit play, "What the Wine Sellers Buy," and subsequently, went into musical theatre. She starred with Cab Calloway in "Bubbling Brown Sugar" on Broadway and on the road for eleven years. Later, she co-starred with Leslie Uggams in "Blues in the Night" which was nominated as "best musical" at Tony Award time (it lost to "Cats"). She replaced folk singer, Odetta in the Chicago production of "Night in the Life of Bessie Smith," and stayed with the show for over a year.
Meanwhile, she appeared in most of the top nightclubs across the USA and Europe, and graced the stages at jazz and blues festivals.
Today, Jean is writing a one-woman show which she plans to take on the road. One thing I'm trying to convince her to do is to release some of the fantastic "live" recordings she has of herself performing in nightclubs. I'm sure her fans would love to put those in their collection. She also is shopping for a recording deal, so if any good record companies are reading this: pounce! They can contact me and I will put them in touch with Jean. Fans of Jean's would like to see the three albums she recorded on Chess/Cadet released on CD. MCA owns them now and have been leasing cuts for numerous compilations. Those albums are "Make Way for Jean DuShon,""You Better Believe Me" and "Feeling Good."
One more thing. I've convinced her to put "For Once in My Life" back in her club act. She was the FIRST singer to ever record that song. In my opinion, hers is the BEST version.
I read with interest the posts on a good friend of mine, the one and only Jean DuShon, who turned me into an instant fan when I saw her perform at the New Jersey Jazz Festival some years ago. She was there with Count Basie, Joe Williams and the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Need I say, she was spectacular.
We became friends a few years ago and she's a wonderful lady. What's she been up to? When disco came in, Jean stopped recording (save a couple of albums she made with Brother Jack McDuff, "The Fourth Dimension" and "Moon Rappin'." At the urging of actor, Dick Williams, she went into the theatre (off-Broadway). A couple of years later, she was on Broadway in the hit play, "What the Wine Sellers Buy," and subsequently, went into musical theatre. She starred with Cab Calloway in "Bubbling Brown Sugar" on Broadway and on the road for eleven years. Later, she co-starred with Leslie Uggams in "Blues in the Night" which was nominated as "best musical" at Tony Award time (it lost to "Cats"). She replaced folk singer, Odetta in the Chicago production of "Night in the Life of Bessie Smith," and stayed with the show for over a year.
Meanwhile, she appeared in most of the top nightclubs across the USA and Europe, and graced the stages at jazz and blues festivals.
Today, Jean is writing a one-woman show which she plans to take on the road. One thing I'm trying to convince her to do is to release some of the fantastic "live" recordings she has of herself performing in nightclubs. I'm sure her fans would love to put those in their collection. She also is shopping for a recording deal, so if any good record companies are reading this: pounce! They can contact me and I will put them in touch with Jean. Fans of Jean's would like to see the three albums she recorded on Chess/Cadet released on CD. MCA owns them now and have been leasing cuts for numerous compilations. Those albums are "Make Way for Jean DuShon," "You Better Believe Me" and "Feeling Good."
One more thing. I've convinced her to put "For Once in My Life" back in her club act. She was the FIRST singer to ever record that song. In my opinion, hers is the BEST version.