‘The Woman King’ has a Colorado sound
DENVER • One of the most anticipated films of the fall is Viola Davis’ “The Woman King,” which opened Friday. And a portion of the soundtrack was recorded right here At Rocky Mountain Recordings.
Five-time Grammy Award winner and Denver native Dianne Reeves has contributed vocals to the film, under the music direction of Terence Blanchard.
“When my dear friend Terence was working on the project, he said he ‘heard’ me in the music, and he invited me to be a part of it,” Reeves said.
The director of the film, Gina Prince-Bythewood, didn’t know Reeves’ music that well at the time, but she knew Blanchard has good instincts.
“So I got a call to come to Scotland, where they were recording the soundtrack,” Reeves recounted. “We started working on it, and when Gina heard some of it, she said, ‘Yeah, we’ve gotta do more of this,’ so we ended up picking up where we left off right here in Denver.”
Reeves said Blanchard allowed her to watch scenes and simply vocally improvise throughout the film. “That’s something I have never done,” said Reeves, who called the whole thing “a simply amazing, extraordinary experience.”
Rocky Mountain Recording, also known as Colorado Recording Studios, is a full-service studio at 1250 W. Cedar Ave.
Five-time Grammy Award winner and Denver native Dianne Reeves has contributed vocals to “The Woman King.”
In the historical epic “The Woman King,” Davis plays a 19th-century African general who led an all-woman army against European slave traders. Historians say they were called the Agojie (or “mothers”) and existed from about 1600 to 1904. They were referred to as “the Dahomey Amazons” by Western Europeans who wrote about them — a nod to fierce female warriors from Greek mythology.
The film is just one reason Reeves is enjoying another career high. Her 1994 song “Endangered Species” was thrust back into international prominence Monday when actor Sheryl Lee Ralph sang it as her acceptance speech at Monday’s “Emmy Awards.” And she is about to embark on her latest international tour.