“What distinguishes "The Gift" from the seemingly endless stream of sound-alike smooth jazz albums can be summed up in one word: Indigo. She's the vocalist who makes the album stand at least somewhat apart from the pack despite a lot of familiar tunes and grooves. Modestly produced, the disc features Indigo interpreting a collection of her favorite romantic ballads in ways that are alternately funky ("What You Won't Do for Love"), sultry ("It's Raining Outside") and tender ("Killing Me Softly"). One gets the impression that this is the singer's personal hit parade, but more often than not her interpretations radiate warmth and lyricism as well as affection. -- Mike Joyce”

Mike Joyce - The Washington Post - Washington, D.C.

Vocalist Indigo Love is somewhat of an introvert. Although you’d never guess it by the way she can belt out a tune on stage.

“I’m pretty much a reserved person,” Love said. “A lot of people don’t know I sing.”

A Washington, D.C. native, Love said most of her co-workers at her day job aren’t even aware that she’s a performer; and she plans to keep it that way.

“I don’t want people to know that I sing until [they] come to a show and experience that,” Love said. “If they ever stumble upon me I want it to be one of the best surprises they could have ever imagined.”

If any of Love’s co-workers happen to stumble into the John Addison Concert Hall at the Harmony Hall Regional Center on Saturday night, they’ll certainly be in for a surprise. Love is set to perform “An Evening with Sarah Vaughan,” a tribute to the legendary jazz musician. Love will be accompanied by pianist Eric Byrd, bassist Bhagwan Khalsa and drummer Steve Walker.

“I just love Sarah Vaughan,” said Love. “The beauty of Sarah Vaughan’s voice was that she had a four-octave range where she could really be low or high ... she had all of the ingredients.”

And with a nearly 30-year long career under her belt, so does Love.

Born Babette Couser, Love said she grew up listening to Motown and R&B.

“‘The Supremes’, ‘The Temptations’ ... I always loved music,” she said.

Love started using her stage name in 1999 after the death of her grandmother.

“She was one of my biggest supporters,” Love said. “She said, ‘Don’t ever stop.’”

When her grandmother died suddenly, Love said it was one of the most difficult times of her life.

“Indigo is the darkest color of blue you can be and when my grandmother passed away, it took me several years to become strong again,” Love said. “That was the darkest period of my life.”

The singer said she chose ‘Love’ because it’s a universal concept she hopes to exhibit when she’s performing.

“I think ... it speaks to everything I ... convey when I come up on to the stage,” she said.

Love studied at what is now the Duke Ellington School of Arts in D.C. After some appearances at the famed Apollo Theatre in New York in the early 1990s, Love started taking professional voice lessons primarily in pop and R&B.

“My voice is an instrument,” Love said. “As much as a drummer learns timing ... you learn those same things with your voice.”

The singer eventually began working with D.C. jazz musician and instructor, the late Ronnie Wells. “I was terrified,” remembered Love. “There is a difference between jazz vocals and pop and R&B.”

After her debut jazz performance at the now defunct One Step Down jazz club in D.C. in 1993, Love started singing with a gospel-jazz quartet. Along with three other female musicians, Love began performing at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

“When we mixed the gospel with the jazz, people wanted to listen,” said Love. “People would sit, eat brunch and watch.”

The ensemble began to branch out, performing in clubs around the D.C. area. Once Love started performing at some of the city’s most well-known venues on her own, including the Kennedy Center and Blues Alley, people started asking if the singer had a CD.

In 2004, Love released “Shades of Indigo-The Gift,” her first studio recording in which she covered standard ballads.

While Love considers her album a success and a learning experience — she also worked as an executive producer on the record — she said she prefers performing live to recording in a studio.

“Performing for me is real,” Love said. “Recording is a footprint, you memorialize your voice at that very moment when you record it. With live performance, you get an opportunity to get better each time.”

Saturday won’t be Love’s first appearance at Harmony Hall. She’s even performed other tributes at the venue in the past, including one for Duke Ellington. But Love said Saturday’s concert is different. “ I’ve never embarked on an adventure like this before,” Love said.

The singer said she listened to many of Vaughan’s songs and chose the ones that “called out to her,” including “Misty,” “Send in the Clowns” and “Lullaby of Birdland” for Saturday night’s program.

“I want people to remember Sarah Vaughan,” said Love. “I want to give them a little bit of something as if they had seen her when she was alive.”

chedgepeth@gazette.net