Dee Dee Bridgewater will make her Savannah Music Festival Debut on Friday, March 25 at the Lucas Theater for the Arts.

A Grammy and Tony-award winner and inductee of The Memphis Music Hall of Fame, Bridgewater’s four-decade long career has cemented her as a prolific figure in jazz. A UN Goodwill Ambassador, Doris Duke Artist Award recipient, and ASCAP Champion, she also leads a non-profit that supports women in jazz, The Woodshed Network.

Her 2017 album “Memphis…Yes, I’m Ready” saw Bridgewater return to her Memphis roots both honoring and reimagining American Blues and R&B Classics.

This will be your Savannah Music Festival debut, right?

Yes, I am so excited! I have never been to Savannah, and I am actually going to stay an extra day just so I can check out the city a little bit.

It’s been two years since the festival has been in person. Anything you’re looking forward to?

I don’t have any expectations. I’m just really excited to be coming and doing the two different programs I’ll be involved in!

I want to pivot and talk about Memphis a little bit. you were born in Memphis, but moved to Flint, MI, pretty early on in life. how were you able to maintain your love for Memphis blues and jazz while in Michigan?

Well, I discovered a radio station out of Memphis that I could capture late at night around 11, which is a radio station that still exists today called WDIA. I would close my door and put a blanket down so the sound wouldn’t carry out. That way, my parents wouldn’t know I was up so late. That’s where I discovered Al Green and where I first heard Gladys Knight, who is one of the artists I honor on my album, Memphis, Yes, I’m Ready.

Wasn’t your father a DJ for WDIA?

I found out when I was doing some investigative work in 2014 that my father, who had taught at Manassas High, was also one of the first on air DJs at WDIA, alongside Rufus Thomas and Panda BB King.

“Matt – The Platter Cat” right? That’s a really cool moniker by the way!

Yeah, that’s what they called him [her father]!

Did you and your father talk a lot about music when you were a kid?

Not initially. When I started expressing a desire to sing, it was my father who kind of guided me. He introduced me to a man whose band he was in when I was a teenager. His name was Sherman Mitchell, and he was an alto saxophonist. When I was 12 years old, I expressed to my father that I’d wanted to learn piano, and coming from his generation, he said, ‘Girls don’t play an instrument, girls sing.’ Today I’d be like, ‘Have you lost your mind,’ but I was 12 and I adored my father.

Is the rest of your family also musically inclined?

At seven, I found out that my mom and my sister could not sing! We were singing this song, and they were not keeping the notes. I remember saying, ‘no, no, it sounds like this,’ and that was when the light bulb went on. Maybe this is something that is unique to me.

Can you describe what it was like to record your album Memphis, I’m Ready at the William Mitchell Royal Studios?

Oh, it was magical. I actually felt like I was in a hallowed space. ‘Boo’ [Lawrence Mitchell] hasn’t changed. He also hasn’t altered anything in the studio either, so I used to joke that we were all going to get sick from the old soundproofing! It’s fantastic walking down the corridor to the main studio and seeing all of Al Green’s and other artist’s gold and platinum albums on the walls. It’s inspiring!

In addition to your music career, you also have this incredible background in service being a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador and the artistic director for The Woodshed Network (TWN). talk about the importance of that.

We just finished our third-year residency, which was from February 21 to March 4. We had 11 mentees, and I think we had 26 female mentors. We’re really trying to enhance the possibilities for these young women who are at the beginning and intermediate stages of their careers. We want them to have the business knowledge they need to further their careers.

Bridgewater and The Memphis Soulphany will be performing songs from her album “Memphis…Yes, I’m Ready” at SMF on Fri., March 25 at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts. She will also take part in several other performances at SMF. Visit savannahmusicfestival.org to find out more.

This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2022.