Sunday Night Jazz Showcase
Program #120 (May 15 at 8:00PM)
Having toured the world as an esteemed performer, clinician, recording artist, vocal instructor and ambassador, vocalist Roseanna Vitro has proven herself a reigning member of the jazz community. Her collaborations, covering a wide range of music and stylistic directions, have been cited and celebrated, far and wide.
Vitro is a soulful communicator, showcasing a thirst for swinging hard and possessing an ear for melodic invention. Her strengths include rhythmic acuity and free-spirited spontaneity, often heard in her improvisations, using both scat syllables and lyrics.
Vitro’s signature energy and grace can be heard on a host of recordings, notable among them, her breakout recording on Telarc (Passion Dance), which featured Elvin Jones, Christian McBride and longtime musical partner, Kenny Werner, and compelling tributes to Ray Charles (Catchin’ Some Rays), Bill Evans (Conviction), and Brazil (Tropical Postcards), The Delirium Blues Project: Serve or Suffer on Half Note Records, 2008- is a live, blues-based recording of jazz and pop repertoire featuring Kenny Werner’s arrangements and an all-star band of Kenny Werner, James Carter, Randy Brecker, Ray Anderson, Adam Rogers, John Patitucci, Rocky Bryant, Geoff Countryman.
In 2010, Roseanna formed the RNP Band (Randy Newman Project Group) with Mark Soskin, piano and arranging, Sara Caswell, Violin, Dean Johnson, Bass and Tim Horner drums. After many hours of research and rehearsals, “The Music of Randy Newman” was released by Motema Music. In 2011, “The Music of Randy Newman” was nominated for best vocal jazz album.
In 2012, Roseanna Vitro and Mark Soskin turned their attention in a new direction to the late, great Clare Fisher’s songbook. A musician’s musician, Clare is renown for his harmonic and melodic depth. Clarity, The Music of Clare Fischer is slated for release on Random Act Records on September 30th, 2014. Six new songs brought to life with lyrics by Paul Wickliffe (Roseanna’s husband and recording engineer), Roger Schore and Cheryl Pyle.
Her band mates, on stage and in the studio, have included Kenny Werner, Fred Hersch, George Coleman, ‘Fathead Newman,’ Eddie Gomez, Arnett Cobb, Elvin Jones, Kenny Barron, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, Eddie Daniels, Joey Baron, Al Foster, Rufus Reid, Buster Williams, Ben Riley, Allen Farnham, Dean Johnson, Tim Horner, Mark Soskin, Sara Caswell, Randy Brecker, Ray Anderson, Adam Rogers, John Patitucci, Mino Cinelu.
Vitro served as an official Jazz Ambassador, sponsored in 2009 by Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. State Department and in 2004 by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the U.S. State Department. She has also presented concerts and workshops around the world.
Given her lifelong commitment to the art of jazz singing, exemplified by her myriad of achievements on the bandstand, in the studio, and in classrooms fronting jazz’s next generation, Roseanna Vitro displays a heart and a soul rare by any standards. She is a consummate artist whose professional outreach improves us all.
