Dee Dee Bridgwater was having a laugh. The jokes were flowing about Bavarian beer and the crazy ,Dirndl‘ costumes worn by women during Munich’s Oktoberfest, that very special, very busy and very drunk carnival. She was also talking about her admiration for Abbey Lincoln, about her wonderful band and all the great times they’d spent together on stage and on the road in the last few days. But above all, she was singing, with a deep and soulful swing, during the final concert of her winter tour in Europe, at Munich‘s Unterfahrt.

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Maybe because of this special circumstances, a rare club gig with that end-of-term feeling, she changed the set-list completely and spontaneously, only performing one song from Abbey Lincoln and one from Billie Hiliday, in a programme nonetheless entitled “Billie, Abbey and me.” She rang the changes with a handful of Stevie Wonder tracks like Living in the City plus a bit of Monk.

A very funky evening, then, with one of the greatest living jazz vocal divas, performing with a relaxed and groovy quartet of masters all eliciting sophisticated joy from their instruments: Edsel Gomez on piano, Theo Croker on trumpet, Michael Bowie on both electric and double bass, and the fabulous drummer Jerome Jennings. Luxury casting all the way!

She also promised she’d be back here next summer, with her daughter China Moses …