Roberta Gambarini | |
|---|---|
 Photo by Ed Newman | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Turin, Italy |
| Origin | New York City |
| Genres | Jazz, vocal jazz |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Labels | EmArcy |
| Website | www.robertagambarini.com |
Roberta Gambarini is an italian-american jazz singer
Gambarini was born in Turin, Italy, where she attended jazz concerts, clubs, and festivals with her parents. Her father played the saxophone, and she grew up hearing jazz in the house, and learning by listening to records. Her first instrument was clarinet when she was 12, then piano. When she was 18, she moved to Milan to pursue a career as a vocalist. In Milan she worked in radio and television . [1] [2]
Gambarini moved to the U.S.in 1998 and won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. A few weeks after her arrival in America, she entered the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and came in third behind Teri Thornton and Jane Monheit. She was invited to sing in New York City, where she sang with Billy Higgins, Harold Land, Ronnie Matthews, Jimmy Heath, Ben Riley, Curtis Fuller, Clark Terry, and Ronnie Matthews. In 1999 she met Benny Carter who introduced her to the jazz community as his protegee, and shortly after, James Moody. Moody became her teacher, mentor, and friend. Roberta and Moody collaborated extensively in concerts,tours and recordings until the passing of the great saxophonist in 2010. [1]
In 2004, she started touring with the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, performing with James Moody, John Lee, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Paquito d'Rivera, Mulgrew Miller, Claudio Roditi,Paquito D'Rivera, and Roy Hargrove. From 2006 to 2007 she toured with her own trio, as well as the Hank Jones trio.
She sang with Afro-Cuban Jazz Master Chucho Valdes in Europe and the US.
She performed with Dave Brubeck and his quartet on a number of concerts, including the premiere of "Cannery Row Suite", a piece by Dave Brubeck commissioned for the Monterey Jazz Festival where she sang the lead female role of Dora. She was the lead female singer in the 2013 performance of Dave Brubeck's "The Real Ambassadors" at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC.
Roberta performed with Roy Hargove for almost two decades, and was the singer with the Roy Hargrove Big Band from 2004 until Hargrove's untimely passing in 2018. She sang on Hargrove's Big Band album "Emergence" ,released in 2009 for EmArcy Records.
She frequently collaborated with saxophonist-composer-arranger Jimmy Heath who was one of her mentors. She recorded and toured with the Heath Brothers as well as with the Jimmy Heath Big Band.
Her debut album Easy to Love (Groovin' High, 2006) was nominated for a Grammy Award.
You Are There was a collaboration with Hank Jones.
Her album So in Love was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. [2]
Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist, timbalero, and composer. While living in his native Cuba, Sandoval was influenced by jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1977 he met Gillespie, who became his friend and mentor and helped him defect from Cuba while on tour with the United Nations Orchestra. Sandoval became an American naturalized citizen in 1998. His life was the subject of the film For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000) starring Andy García.
Michel Camilo is a Dominican pianist and composer. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work.
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz.
The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz disc jockey Jimmy Lyons.
Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras, known as Paquito D'Rivera, is a Cuban-American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He was a member of the Cuban songo band Irakere and, since the 1980s, he has established himself as a bandleader in the United States. His smooth saxophone tone and his frequent combination of Latin jazz and classical music have become his trademarks.
Claudio Roditi was a Brazilian jazz trumpeter. In 1966 Claudio was named a trumpet finalist at the International Jazz Competition in Vienna, Austria. While in Vienna, Roditi met Art Farmer, one of his idols, and the friendship inspired the younger trumpeter to follow a career in jazz.
Romero Lubambo is a Brazilian jazz guitarist.
James Moody was an American jazz saxophone and flute player and very occasional vocalist, playing predominantly in the bebop and hard bop styles. The annual James Moody Jazz Festival is held in Newark, New Jersey.
"Con Alma" is a jazz standard written by Dizzy Gillespie, appearing on his 1954 album Afro. The tune incorporates aspects of bebop jazz and Latin rhythm, and is known for its frequent changes in key centers, while still maintaining a singable melody.
Ignacio Berroa is a jazz drummer.
Joseph Rupert Benjamin was an American jazz bassist.
Charles "Specs" Wright was an American jazz drummer born in Philadelphia.
The Hampton Jazz Festival is a major musical event started in 1968, and features many of the world's major jazz artists. It is held during the last full weekend in June each year, with the primary venue being Hampton, Virginia's Hampton Coliseum. Festival organizers describe it as "the best available jazz, R&B and blues artists that are on tour during the time of the festival... packaged at a reasonable price." In 2024 it was re-branded as the Hampton Jazz & Music Festival, with an emphasis on a broader range of musical acts.
Live at the Royal Festival Hall is an album by Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra. It won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1991. The concert was also released on DVD.
John Lee is an American bassist, Grammy winning record producer and audio engineer.
Justin Robinson is an American alto saxophonist. He has performed with artists such as the Harper Brothers, Cecil Brooks III, Abbey Lincoln, Diana Ross, Little Jimmy Scott, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band and was a member of the quintet and big band of trumpeter Roy Hargrove.
Ahmad Khatab Salim or Ahmad Kharab Salim was an American jazz composer, and arranger.
You Are There is a collaborative effort between Roberta Gambarini and Hank Jones. It is Gambarini's fourth album.
Sharel Cassity is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator based in Chicago, having lived in New York City from 2000 to 2016. She is a winner of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer, is in the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, has performed internationally in 27 countries, and is faculty at DePaul University, Columbia College Chicago, and Elgin Community College in Illinois teaching Jazz Pedagogy, classical saxophone jazz saxophone, classical flute, and piano. In addition to recording several albums, she has toured with her band internationally and has been featured with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra 2020.
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