RENÉE MANNING

Renée Manning: The Quiet Superstar Who Redefined Jazz  

Interview by Raul da Gama

Vocalist, musician and quiet superstar Renée Manning recounts how she came to play Bessie Smith in a jazz opera, with music by George Gruntz and a libretto by the Rabelaisian Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, also featuring Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy. “I remember, I was told that George was looking for a singer with an operatic background for Cosmopolitan Greetings,” she says.

“So, I went to meet him in Köln. Not only do I see that he has Sheila and Mark signed up, but then he tells me, ‘I want you to play Bessie…’” she says. “‘What do you mean?’ I ask him, ‘Bessie Smith…?!’ I almost fell off my chair. I was surprised, apprehensive, and I said, ‘Uh, huh! No, I can’t do it!’ But George is, you know, charming and persistent.”

An even bigger challenge was walking into the first rehearsal. “I was greeted by grim, unsmiling faces of the members of the WDR Big Band. Oh, my goodness, they looked at me as if to say, ‘Here comes another Black diva.’ But when I was done, the musicians put down their instruments, stood up, and applauded,” Renée says without a smidge of egotism in her voice.

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/5d111cef0a.html#page/10.