Phat Man Dee

Life in Tune is a biweekly photo feature about local musicians.

In Phat Man Dee’s musical life, there are no rests.

Her latest project is a recording featuring her powerful voice alongside local powerhouse musicians Reggie Watkins on trombone, James Johnson on piano and Roger Humphries on drums. The extended play record is slated for release in February 2022, but Man Dee said a couple of singles will be released before then, including one titled "Virgil and Kae" in honor of two longtime local jazz lovers who died in recent years. 

“He lived openly as a gay Black man with his partner in New York City, in the middle of the century, at the height of Jim Crow,” Phat Man Dee says. “So it was important to me that we celebrate him fully for everything he gave us and who he was.

“His whole life, his existence, his music, his legacy, his gift means we get to celebrate him every time we hear one of his songs,” she added. “And a lot of people don’t even know. They’re like, ‘Oh, I thought Ellington wrote this.’ He wrote a lot of songs that people don’t realize that he wrote and arranged.”