Dee Dee Bridgewater's career is now in its sixth decade, and while she says she's put in a lot of work to find herself, there's no doubt that the jazz world sees her as an institution.
It is always a thrill to reflect on the fact that, even though the vast majority of Richard Wagner's oeuvre consists of his operas and music dramas, and the singers who perform in them on the world's top stages are exceptional artists, the most popular parts of these works, which can also be played independently, are the orchestral sequences.