By Craig Mustoe and Jennifer Mustoe
On a chilly President’s Day last night, a group of music lovers, adults and children alike, gathered at the beautiful Covey Center for the Arts in Provo to experience an amazing concert by Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin. Duffin is Utah’s consummate diva, and a perfect choice to help Utah County fans celebrate Black History Month.
My husband and I settled in for a lovely concert, filled with love songs, ballads, upbeat numbers, all sung in her amazing liquid, full voice. This event had a lot of meaning for us, as it was our 24th wedding anniversary, and here we were listening to all that love. Duffin also speaks between some numbers, sharing stories of her life, wisdom she’s found along her journey, messages that have meaning to her. Each song and message were straight from her heart. Duffin grinned and told us that ballads were her favorite and her concert has many–all marvelous. She really shines when she does a few numbers by Billie Holiday and my favorite pieces were those and the Gershwin numbers she sang.
Duffin is a comfortable, confident, sweet performer, and is backed by an amazing quartet: Brian Bennet on piano, Alicia Wrigley on bass, David Evanoff on drums, and Mark Maxson on guitar. Throughout the concert, these band members had their own solos and got much applause for their expertise. One little girl danced through the whole concert. Dee-Dee mentioned little CaSarah several times. It shows a real performer to be aware of and welcoming to the audience.
Duffin’s concert is part of the Excellence in the Community series, concerts from Utah musicians. EITC has a prolific and impressive calendar with many genres to appeal to everyone. Jeff Whiteley, founder of the non-profit has agreed to an interview, so look for that in the coming week. Go to their site and start attending these quality FREE concerts. With five venues, there is something somewhere that will appeal to all.
For music from Duffin, go to her site and give her a listen. She has many recordings and you will understand why I have been a fan-girl of this woman for years. You can also follow her on Facebook. She also has a concert at the Gallivan Center on February 27, 2019 and plays Harriet Tubman in Plan-B‘s upcoming An Evening with Two Awful Men, opening in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, February 21, 2019.
I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin and you can clearly see what a real, warm, authentic soul she is. And she’s even better in real life.
Consider following and falling in love with the dynamic Miss Dee-Dee and see her in all her many performances. You will be delighted.
Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin Facebook Page
Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin Free Excellence Concert Facebook Event
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