Following her Grammy-winning orchestral album The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan, jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves wished to return to a simpler, all-acoustic setting. So in December 2002, Reeves entered Right Track studios in New York City with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Norah Jones) to record A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of ten tunes featuring her touring trio: pianist Peter Martin, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson.

"Most of the songs are about the moment you're ready to fall in love, and the record features one of my loves, my trio-up-close and personal," says Reeves. "I've had great groups over the years, but there is really something special playing with Peter, Reuben and Greg. We've worked together for so long that sometimes all it takes is a look to make the music come alive-and this record captures the magic between us."

Reeves covers classics--such as the upbeat and fun "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and a slow and sweet rendition of "Skylark"--to lesser knowns such as the whimsical Richard Rogers tune "Loads of Love."

Commenting on the experience of working with Mardin, Reeves notes "It's so important to have someone on the other side of the glass who is really able to hear the music while you're in the middle of it. While I have clear ideas about what I want to do in the studio, when Arif made suggestions, they were always dead-on."

Says Mardin, the 2003 Grammy winning "Producer of the Year" on Norah Jones' Come Away with Me, "I like the simmering effect Dianne brings to a song. At times, she is like a diver springing off the board-jumping and hanging in the air, then rising even further while achieving one more perfectly executed twist."

Reeves enjoyed a banner year in 2002, garnering a remarkable array of plaudits and special appearances. The Calling won a Grammy (her second, consecutively); she performed at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City; she sang on the season finale of HBO's hit series Sex and the City; she received the Ella Fitzgerald Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival; she was appointed the Creative Chair for Jazz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (for which Reeves oversees the scheduling of jazz programming at both the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall); and she released a career-spanning compilation CD on Blue Note, The Best of Dianne Reeves.

A. Scott Galloway wrote in the Best of... liner notes, "Dianne Reeves is jazz's replenishing empress. With her solar-powered contralto, expansive range, impeccable pitch and evocative writings, she has returned jazz to mother nature, reconnecting it to its earthen roots. A woman of strength and grace, she is an artist unencumbered by the shackles of categorization."

In spite of all the accolades, Reeves says, "I always have to remind myself of how far I've come in my career...and how far there is to go. The most rewarding thing is to be able to continue to sing with my heart and soul."

She fulfills that desire fully on A Little Moonlight. In choosing the songs for the recording, Reeves says she tapped into her life experience. "On this album, I went with the flow--which can get you to places you never dreamed of going."

A Little Moonlight is steeped in a romantic sensibility. Case in point: the mesmerizing rendition of "Skylark." Says Reeves, "That's a song I've always wanted to sing. It's a song that's very special to me. The melody and harmony are beautiful, and the words are so sweet." From the Billie Holiday songbook comes "We'll Be Together Again", yet another simmering gem.

A haunting version of "You Go to My Head", features Nicholas Payton, whose voice-like trumpet lines enthrall. "Nicholas has such a beautiful sound," Reeves enthuses. "It's very round and it comes from a soulful place."

Reeves enlisted Romero Lubambo to join the trio on a soft, samba-like take on "I Concentrate on You", and the gently rendered duet "Darn That Dream." "Romero is a dear friend; we met in Brazil seven years ago and he has been on my last four albums."

The lead-off song of the collection, "Loads of Love", is a hip and whimsical song that is "light-hearted and to the point. "It's about what I want: 'loads of lovely love'."

Key to the session's success is Reeves' high degree of camaraderie with her trio. The telepathic interplay between the players resulted in many of the songs requiring only one or two takes. A songwriter par excellence, Reeves opted not to include any originals on A Little Moonlight. "I selected romantic songs that I've been wanting to record for a long time," she says. "This is my record of standards. The next will be different."

The first singer signed to the newly reactivated Blue Note label in 1987, Reeves states, "Blue Note is so supportive of its artists. There are so many unique voices here, and we have the freedom to document our music as we grow artistically." As for Blue Note president Bruce Lundvall, Reeves says, "Bruce is one of the last great, larger-than-life record executives." Said Lundvall, "By signing Dianne, I feel better about my own legacy."

The collection of musical gems in A Little Moonlight features Reeves in total command of her artistry. "While the most essential element of jazz is to be in the moment," says Reeves, "I'm drawing more from my life experience on this recording--a deeper understanding of my life as a woman, a human being, a spirit."

And the result is the shimmering radiance of...a little moonlight.