Roseanna Vitro | |
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 Vitro in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Roseanna Elizabeth Vitro |
| Born | February 28, 1951 Hot Springs, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, vocal jazz |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Labels | Skyline, Chase Music Group, Concord Jazz, Telarc, Sea Breeze, A Records, Challenge, Half Note, Motéma, Random Act |
| Website | roseannavitrojazz |
Roseanna Elizabeth Vitro (born February 28, 1951) is a jazz singer and teacher from Arkansas.
Born Roseanna Elizabeth Vitro [1] in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on February 28, 1951, Vitro began singing at an early age, drawing inspiration from gospel, rock, rhythm and blues, musical theatre, and classical music. [2] During the 1950s, her father owned a night club in Hot Springs called The Flamingo. He loved Dean Martin's music and opera, and her mother's family sang gospel. By the 1960s, she was determined to be a rock singer. [3]
Vitro was exposed to jazz and it became her genre of choice after moving to Houston, Texas in the 1970s. Ray Sullenger discovered Vitro and presented her to the Houston jazz community where she sang frequently with Arnett Cobb. [4] She worked for two years at the Green Room in Houston with her group Roseanna with Strings and Things and hosted a radio show on KUHF-FM. The band performed with Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Tommy Flanagan, and Keter Betts. Cobb, Peterson, and Sullenger encouraged her to dedicate herself to jazz.
In 1978, she moved to New York City with guitarist Scott Hardy and began to study with Gabor Carelli, a professor from the Manhattan School of Music, and began to perform with Kenny Werner and Fred Hersch. She sang with Lionel Hampton and toured with him. She appeared at The Blue Note, Iridium, Birdland, and Dizzy's Jazz Club at Lincoln Center. She appeared with Steve Allen at The Town Hall at The Apollo Theater and recorded an album of Allen's songs. In 2005 she performed and recorded with the Kenny Werner Trio at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
She has worked with Kenny Barron, Christian McBride, Elvin Jones, Gary Bartz, Kevin Mahogany, and David "Fathead" Newman, all of whom have appeared on her recordings. [2] She was a guest on Marian McPartland's radio program Piano Jazz . [1] Her album The Music of Randy Newman [5] received 4 1/2 stars in Down Beat magazine and a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2012.
Vitro taught vocal jazz at the State University of New York at Purchase and retired in 2017 as Vocal Jazz Chair at New Jersey City University and New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She holds workshops, concerts, and master classes. She has studied classical voice, ear-training, classical Indian vocal technique, Portuguese, piano, and jazz technique and concept. [2]
Except where indicated, all information is from The Encyclopedia of Popular Music at Oxford Music Online. [2]
Randall Stuart Newman is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer and conductor known for his non-rhotic Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs, and various film scores. His hits as a recording artist include "Short People" (1977), "I Love L.A." (1983), and "You've Got a Friend in Me" (1995) with Lyle Lovett, while other artists have enjoyed success with cover versions of his "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1966), "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (1968), and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1972).
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Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author.
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Half Note Records is a jazz record label founded by the Blue Note Jazz Club in 1998. Although it began releasing live recordings from the club, the label expanded to produce studio albums.
Motéma Music is a jazz and world music record label in the United States. It was founded in 2003 in San Francisco Bay Area by label president and recording artist Jana Herzen. The label has received Grammy recognition more than 25 times for albums in jazz, Latin jazz, reggae, and R&B. Motema's roster includes Gregory Porter, Joey Alexander, Deva Mahal, Pedrito Martinez, Randy Weston, Geri Allen, David Murray, Monty Alexander, and Charnett Moffett, Donny McCaslin, Mark Guiliana, and Terri Lyne Carrington and many other respected artists in jazz, world and soul music.
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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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Passion Dance is the fifth album by jazz singer Roseanna Vitro, released in January 1996 on the Telarc Jazz label.
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