Dianne Donovan lives and breathes music. She always has a tune in her head, and she is singing almost constantly. Dianne grew up the youngest in a large family and loved her dad’s big band records, her Mom’s classical albums, her sister’s glam-rock, brother’s Motown, other brothers’ rock 'n’ roll, and she likely scratched all of their records.
As a student, Dianne studied music, specializing in vocal performance at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton. Since then, she has performed with Tommy Banks Big Band, P.J. Perry, Kent Sangster, Andrew Glover and toured Canada and the States with Gary Guthman’s Tribute To Harry James, in a big band setting as well as in symphonic pops concerts.
As a broadcaster, Dianne first hit the airwaves in 1983, on CJSR, the University of Alberta’s campus radio station. She has been a force in radio jazz ever since. In addition to Voices In Jazz, on CKUA. In Austin she hosted a show at KUT (NPR-affiliate) and is currently the midday weekday announcer and producer/host and editor of the magazine show, Classical Austin at KMFA-Classical 89.5.
Dianne has two jazz albums under her own name, Yes and No produced by Tommy Banks and A-Musing produced by Kent Sangster. As well, in Austin, she is 1/3 of the vocal trio The Beat Divas and they have two albums. Live at Reed’s and Dishin’ With The Divas.
After years of performing, recording, listening and interviewing many of her idols, Dianne has multiple decades of jazz knowledge and anecdotes to share. It all comes out during Voices In Jazz. “I try to cover all types of jazz singing on the show: traditional, swing, scat, blues-oriented, vocalese, avant garde. Billie, Sarah, Jon, Kurt, Mose, Carmen, Chet, Ella and more!” she says.
Over the years, her interest in her genre of choice hasn’t waned. “I have a real sense of ‘wonder’ about the transformative power of jazz, music in general, and the many other art forms, and I love to share that with listeners,” she says.
What's some music that inspire Dianne?
"Shout!" by Tears For Fears
"What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye
"Aja" by Steely Dan
Voices In Jazz
Voices in Jazzpresents the voices and genres of this fascinating and wide-ranging music and its 80-year history. From classic jazz singers like Sinatra and Fitzgerald to choral jazz music like that from the Swingle Singers, Voices In Jazz savours the various slices of the musical pie.
