Dena DeRose

Dena DeRose overcame a debilitating physical illness to become a significant force in jazz as both a pianist and a singer. She brings a modern-jazz hipness to the American standard repertoire, and approaches virtually everything she plays with a "swing first" mentality. By the time she released 1996's Introducing Dena DeRose for Sharp Nine Records, her leader debut, she had already faced down the twin blows of rheumatoid arthritis and carpel tunnel syndrome, which threatened to end her career. While recovering from corrective surgery she was dared to sing in a club. A few week...