Arts & Entertainment

Singer Dee Alexander’s Breakout Moment

She's internationally acclaimed but still has a day job. The New York Times called her appearance at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival one of the year's 10 best. For jazz singer Dee Alexander the praise is terrific, she's ready for success, but she is patient. After all, she has been making music in Chicago since the 1970s. Her new album, “Songs My Mother Loves,” is a critically heralded collection of jazz standards chosen with her mother. Saxophonist Oliver Lake appeared on the album and will join Alexander at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival this coming Saturday for a set that is sure to embody Chicago Tribune jazz critic Howard Reich's observation that "jazz is the sound of surprise."