Tupelo Music Hall

Most music fans have a favorite song recorded by two-time GRAMMY® award-winner Rita Coolidge― “Fever,” “We’re All Alone,” “One Fine Day,” “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher & Higher,” “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” “All Time High,” “Superstar,” and so many other memorable tracks that topped the charts from the 1970′s onward. It is perhaps due to Coolidge’s pop and rock pedigree that many of her fans are unaware of her longstanding affection for jazz, however. Her debut release for Concord Records,And So Is Love, a collection of well-loved jazz standards, is sure to change all that. It will also undoubtedly add a few jazz chestnuts to that lengthy list of songs Coolidge has already made her own.

When Coolidge signed with new management a few years back, she put recording a jazz album on the top of her wish list. “I loved the experience of making my first jazz record with Barbara Carroll in the 1970s,” Coolidge recalls, “and I’ve always loved the jazz singers―Nancy Wilson, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and especially Peggy Lee, who I have admired since I was three-years old.” Coolidge continues, “I’ve always wanted to get over to the jazz side and am deeply grateful that [Concord Records' executive producer] John Burk believed in me enough to help me make this recording. He should have a star in heaven.”

And So Is Love, her heartfelt contribution to the jazz book, certainly gives back what she’s learned, but it presents something new, something fresh, as well: Rita Coolidge, jazz singer, ready to share (and perhaps even introduce) her prodigious talents with jazz fans. “There’s a whole new world waiting out there for me and I’m excited about stepping into it. In the last 12 months, I’ve got a new husband, a new grandbaby, and a new record. It’s been a damn good year!”

Rita Coolidge's Website