Reaching for the Moon (album)

Last updated
Reaching for the Moon
Reaching for the Moon (album).jpg
Studio album by
Roseanna Vitro
ReleasedJune 1991 [1]
RecordedSkyline, New York City [2]
Genre Vocal jazz, Brazilian jazz
Length57:22 [3]
Label Chase Music Group
CMD 8030 [4]
Producer Paul Wickliffe [1]
Roseanna Vitro chronology
A Quiet Place
(1987)		Reaching for the Moon
(1991)		 Softly
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
CD Review favorable [5]
JazzTimes favorable [6]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]
External audio
Nuvola apps arts.svg You may listen to "You Are There" here

Reaching for the Moon is the third album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, released in 1991 on the CMG label. Vitro explores a number of genres, accompanied by pianist-arranger Kenny Werner and a varying cast of featured and supporting players, [6] including saxophonists George Coleman, Joe Lovano and Kirk Whalum, drummer Tom Rainey, bassists Harvie Swartz and Ratzo Harris, and percussionists Mino Cinelu, Steve Berrios and Café. [4]

Contents

Reception

AllMusic's retrospective review awards the album 2½ stars out of 5. While acknowledging Kenny Werner as "an under-appreciated pianist" and affirming that Vitro herself "is in good voice throughout," reviewer Ken Dryden portrays the album as a less than ideal showcase for their talents, citing both the "strange engineering" of vocals (causing "a slow fade which proves to be very distracting") and a perceived over-reliance on "bland synthesizer" on many tracks. [3]

By contrast, contemporaneous reviews by JazzTimes and CD Review were uniformly positive. The latter judged Vitro's attempt to emotionally engage her listener a "Bullseye," citing both "the supple power of her phrasing" and her voice's "sensual[ity] and intens[ity]," [5] while JazzTimes proclaimed:

Roseanna Vitro does reach for the moon, and yanks the brass ring. Vitro introduces us to new tunes, sings deeply in many styles, scats refreshingly, and works with mobile combos under the aegis of agile pianist/arranger Kenny Werner. Vitro is full-voiced, good spirited, and abrim with a yearning grace. [6]

Commending Vitro's relatively straightforward delivery (in contrast to a previously detected tendency towards sometimes distracting vocal flourishes), Los Angeles Times critic Zan Stewart also made note of the singer's "impressive Brazilian feel," as well as "Kenny Werner's ace accompaniment" and "vital saxophone solos from George Coleman and Joe Lovano." [7]

Track listing

  1. "I Bet You Thought I'd Never Find You" (Les McCann, Jon Hendricks) - 6:09
  2. "In a Sentimental Mood" (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Manny Kurtz) - 6:37
  3. "Canção do Sal" (aka "Song of Salt") (Milton Nascimento) - 5:44
  4. "Reaching for the Moon" (Irving Berlin) - 5:08
  5. "In the Name of Love" (Kenny Rankin, Estelle Levitt) - 4:14
  6. "The Island" (Ivan Lins, Alan and Marilyn Bergman) - 5:56
  7. "You Are There" (Johnny Mandel, Dave Frishberg) - 5:48
  8. "Gathering Stones" (Kenny Werner) - 5:57
  9. "Yesterdays" (Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach) - 5:30
  10. "Slow Hot Wind" (Henry Mancini, Norman Gimbel) - 6:19

Personnel

All information derived from Jazz Music Archives. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenny Werner</span> American jazz pianist and composer

Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Rainey</span> American drummer

Tom Rainey is an American jazz drummer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mino Cinélu</span> Musical artist

Mino Cinélu is a French musician. He plays multiple instruments. He is a composer, programmer and producer; and is primarily associated with his work as a jazz percussionist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Berrios</span> American jazz musician

Steve Berrios was an American jazz drummer and percussionist born in New York City.

Harvie S is an American jazz double-bassist.

Saheb Sarbib is an American jazz double-bassist and bandleader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roseanna Vitro</span> American jazz singer and teacher (born 1951)

Roseanna Elizabeth Vitro is a jazz singer and teacher from Arkansas.

Mark Samuel Soskin is an American jazz pianist based in New York City.

<i>Clarity: Music of Clare Fischer</i> 2014 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

Clarity: Music of Clare Fischer is the 13th album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, released in 2014 by Random Act Records. The first instance of a singer releasing an album devoted to Fischer's music, Clarity unveils six new lyrics to previously instrumental compositions. One of these, "Take Your Breath and Sing", features the composer's son Brent Fischer on vibraphone.

<i>The Music of Randy Newman</i> 2011 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

The Music of Randy Newman is the 12th album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, recorded in 2009 and 2010, released in 2011 on the Motéma label. It received a 2012 Grammy nomination in the category of the Best Vocal Jazz Album.

<i>The Delirium Blues Project: Serve or Suffer</i> 2008 live album by Roseanna Vitro and Kenny Werner

The Delirium Blues Project: Serve or Suffer is the first album released under the joint leadership of Roseanna Vitro and Kenny Werner. It was recorded live at the Blue Note in New York in August 2007, and released in 2008 on the Half Note label.

<i>Live at the Kennedy Center</i> 2006 live album by Roseanna Vitro

Live At The Kennedy Center is the 10th album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro. Recorded over the course of two consecutive nights in September 2005, it was released the following spring by Challenge Records.

<i>Tropical Postcards</i> 2004 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

Tropical Postcards is the 9th album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, released in 2004 by A Records, an imprint of Challenge Records International. Brazilian jazz and popular music predominate, with seven of the album's eleven tracks provided by Brazilian composers, plus one familiar standard – Sammy Fain's I'll Be Seeing You – performed as a bossa nova.

<i>The Time of My Life: Roseanna Vitro Sings the Songs of Steve Allen</i> 1999 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

The Time of My Life: Roseanna Vitro Sings the Songs of Steve Allen is the 7th album released by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro. Recorded in 1986 under the auspices of Allen himself, it would not find a distributor until 1999, when it was released on the Sea Breeze label.

<i>Catchin Some Rays: The Music of Ray Charles</i> 1997 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

Catchin' Some Rays: The Music of Ray Charles is the 6th album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, released in August 1997 on the Telarc Jazz label.

<i>Softly</i> (Roseanna Vitro album) 1993 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

Softly is the fourth album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, released in December 1993 on the Concord Jazz label.

<i>Passion Dance</i> (Roseanna Vitro album) 1996 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

Passion Dance is the fifth album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, released in January 1996 on the Telarc Jazz label.

<i>Listen Here</i> (Roseanna Vitro album) 1984 studio album by Roseanna Vitro

Listen Here is the first album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, recorded in October 1982 and released in 1984 on the Texas Rose label.

<i>Swamp Sally</i> 1996 studio album by Kenny Barron and Mino Cinelu

Swamp Sally is an album by pianist Kenny Barron and multi-instrumentalist Mino Cinelu recorded in New York in 1995 and first released on the Verve label.

<i>Mooroolbark</i> (album) 2015 album by Barney McAll

Mooroolbark is an album by Australian jazz pianist and composer Barney McAll, released on the ABC Classics Label in May 2015. Other than the composition: "Apple Tree," which has a live and studio version on the album and "Sparkler," all the tracks were recorded in ABC Studios (Australia), with additions made in Tokyo by Shannon Barnett and Brooklyn by Mino Cinelu. The name of the album, "Mooroolbark" is the Wurundjeri ethnic name for the area where McAll grew up, which McAll says is "why I play music."

References

  1. 1 2 "Discography". RoseannaVitro.com. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  2. ↑ "Reaching for the Moon (Musical CD, 1991)". WorldCat. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  3. 1 2 3 Dryden, Ken. "Roseanna Vitro: Reaching for the Moon (Overview)" Allmusic. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  4. 1 2 3 "'Reaching for the Moon' Roseanna Vitro". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  5. 1 2 "Roseanna Vitro: 'Reaching for the Moon'" CD Review. Volume 8, 1992. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  6. 1 2 3 "Roseanna Vitro: 'Reaching for the Moon', Chase Music Group (57:40)" JazzTimes. 1991. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  7. 1 2 Stewart, Zan. "New Releases" The Los Angeles Times. September 1, 1991. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.