Editor’s Note: Jazz fans, rejoice! Legendary vocalist Diane Schuur will return to the island for a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at Vashon Center for the Arts. Jazz bassist extraordinaire and recent Vashon arrival, Bruce Phares, in a duo with renowned pianist Jeremy Bacon, will open the show.

Phares recently sat down with Schuur to dish about music, Vashon connections and some of her grooviest gigs. Following are portions of their conversation — a Beachcomber exclusive.

She’s released more than 25 albums and her jazz repertoire spans essences of Latin, gospel, pop and country music. Her most successful album, “Diane Schuur and the Count Basie Orchestra,” remained #1 on the Billboard Jazz charts for 33 weeks.

Her career includes two Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, and she has scored three additional Grammy nominations for subsequent albums, “Pure Schurr,” and “Love Songs,” as well as for the individual track, “The Christmas Song.” Her album with BB King also reached #1 on the Billboard Jazz charts.

She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and The White House and she was Johnny Carson’s guest on the tonight show at least 11 times. A respected educator conducting clinics and master classes for students of all ages, she was awarded the Helen Keller Achievement Award by the American Foundation for the Blind.

When you attend a Diane Schuur concert, the first thing you experience is that Deedles (as she is now known) wants to connect with her audience. She wants the love she has for singing to felt by the audience, and she wants to feel the love back. Her commanding presence is amplified by her total transparency for who she is.

It was my great honor to back Diane in a number of performances in the past with our mentor in common, the legendary Overton Berry. Performing as an accompanist for her amazing musicality, her enthusiasm and just pure love for the music, is exhilarating not just for the audience, but for her fellow musicians as well.

Connecting with audiences and musicians alike is what Deedles does better than anything else, and after five illustrious decades, she’s still doing it on records and in concert.

Well, welcome Deedles, how’re you doin’ these days?

I’m okay, Brucy. You know, I’m doin’ some gigs … Jazz at Lincoln Center in Dizzy’s Club … a gig in Portland, then I’m coming to Vashon on Feb. 19!

I had a chance to listen to your new album, Running on Faith, it was just fantastic! It feels deeply affectionate.

I wanted to bring comfort and hope to myself and to all of us because of these crazy times. What’s crazy, Brucy, is that COVID hadn’t even hit yet [when we began recording]. And yet some of the songs are so appropriate. Songs like “The Danger Zone” and “Walking on a Tightrope.” It’s interesting how it all came about and how it all evolved.

So, now you’re back on the road and you’re bringing some wonderful musicians with you as well. Bruce Lett on bass, and Kendall Kay on drums. I mean those guys are super tasty.

Yeah, they’re great musicians and really cool cats. We’ve worked together all over the world. They’ll be with me on Vashon, as well. And I’m really glad that you and your pianist, Jeremy Bacon, will be able to warm up the seats for us.

Well, it’s going to be a delight and an honor after all these years. You’ve played Vashon before, where you are just simply so loved.

I love coming back. You know, I’ll have to do at least one tune that [the late] Overton [Berry] and I did — I call him Bear, Overton Bear — because he sat in with us the last performance I did on Vashon.

The emotional impact of when Overton and you sat in together and sang and played together … It left a mark here, Deeds. Just huge.

Oh, well thank you. I appreciate that.

My quartet did a concert when VCA first opened up again, and it was fantastic. The people were so ready to get back out there. Are you experiencing that as well?

They’re so hungry. I really could feel that a lot.

You have roots in Auburn, Tacoma, and Seattle — that’s where you were before you hit stardom. Did you ever make trips to Vashon when you were younger?

I recorded an album there! [Islander] Bob Krinsky produced it, and the album is “Pilot of my Destiny.”

Your first album!

Yeah, that was done on Vashon Island. Ha-ha. I remember getting into a big argument with Bobby about some stupid thing, and I decided to take my skinny ass body — you know, I just ran away from his house and wound up in the brambles! Hahaha… There were thorns, and all that kind of stuff … And yet, I still managed to record some more! Ha-ha!

I’ll say! In your more than 50-year career, you’ve recorded how many albums?

Oh, about 24 albums. That doesn’t include Collections One and Two.

Looking back, who were your most memorable mentors?

Well, of course, you know, Stan Getz brought me to the White House. I hadn’t really hit it big until I got with GRP Records [for the album “Deedles” in 1984]. So, in ’82 I did an all-star jazz performance with Stan Getz, Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie and a bunch of other people at the White House. That’s on the website [dianeschuur.com].

One of the people that I listened to, early on, was Earl Bostic. My mom and dad bought [his record] at Sears Roebuck and Company, and I think the price of the album was $2.98, and it had a just wonderful… what is that… “Harlem Nocturne”…

Yeah, he did a famous version of “Harlem Nocturne.”

My strongest vocal influence, of course, as you probably know, was Dinah Washington.

Your career has crossed a lot of paths. I’ll toss a few names your way and you tell me what comes to mind. “Doc” Severinsen:

Oh, he told me I wasn’t ready for stardom! And he wasn’t wrong [at the time]. But we were on the tonight show 11 times. I guess that’s something!

Frank Sinatra:

I went to Palm Spring to work with Frank Sinatra [in 1988]. I replaced Liza Minelli. When we would go down to breakfast [at the Sinatra Compound], every morning, Quincy Jones would come up to me and he’d go “Deeds, are you livin’ large?”

BB King:

He introduced me to my first veggie burger!

Hahaha! Well, Deeds, I am so honored I get to open for you on Feb. 19, at VCA. By the way, I’ll be playing my solo piece I wrote called “Overton,” in honor of our mutual friend.

Oh, I really want to hear your segment; it’ll give me even more prerogative to kick ass!

I know you’re going to come out swinging. That’s for sure!

Get tickets for Diane Schuur’s Feb. 19 concert at vashoncenterforthearts.org.