Néstor Torres and Roseanna Vitro

Néstor Torres and Roseanna Vitro Headline Amelia Island Jazz Festival in October

Venerable jazz flautist Néstor Torres and Grammy nominated vocalist Roseanna Vitro are set to headline the 2017 Amelia Island Jazz Festival, it was announced this week by AIJF Artistic Director Les DeMerle. A highly influential player with dozens of albums to his credit, Torres will appear on Saturday, October 14. He has recorded for a number of prestigious labels including Polygram, Shanachie, and Sony Latin Jazz. Inspired by musicians like Cal Tjader, Dave Brubeck, and Tito Puente, Torres’ playing incorporates a smorgasbord of Latin jazz, pop, straight-ahead jazz, and classical styles. He has played with an impressive array of jazz greats, including Jimmy Smith and Dave Grusin.

Vitro, who will perform on Friday, October 13, earned a 2012 Grammy Nomination for “Best Vocal Jazz Album,” The Music of Randy Newman, on Motéma Music. An inventive singer, her strengths include rhythmic acuity and free-spirited spontaneity, often heard in her improvisations, using both scat syllables and lyrics. Additionally, she has released twelve critically acclaimed recordings for Motéma, Telarc, Concord, Challenge and Half Note Records and has performed with a strong sampling of today’s top jazz artists, most notably Elvin Jones and Christian McBride. She has also headlined at prestigious jazz venues such as The Blue Note and Lincoln Center in New York, and The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Both artists will appear on programs at the Fernandina Beach Golf Club on Bill Melton Road.


Now in its 14th year, the AIJF will take place at various locations in Fernandina Beach, FL from October 8-15, 2017, beginning with its annual free concert in Amelia Park on Sunday, October 8. Additional shows will be announced soon. Tickets are available online, the AIFBY Chamber of Commerce and the UPS Store on Amelia Island.

Roseanna Vitro: Clarity Album Release

Roseanna Vitro sings with flawless intonation, pitch-perfect flowing lines and the ability to make the meaning of a song’s lyrics resonate. She exudes plenty of soul and exuberant delight in the storytelling elements of every song she sings. - Owen McNally, Hartford Courant 2013

Grammy-nominated vocalist ROSEANNA VITRO debuts “CLARITY - MUSIC OF CLARE FISCHER,” premiering lyric versions of the composer's outstanding melodies on a new CD from Random Act Records. As a follow-up to her widely-acclaimed project, "The Music of Randy Newman,"  "CLARITY," finds Ms. Vitro focusing her talents on a pioneering composer of renown. Sara Caswell's violin soars with passion over pianist Mark Soskin's ingenious arrangements over Latin rhythms and jazz.
read more: http://www.publictheater.org/en/Tickets/Calendar/PlayDetailsCollection/Joes-Pub/2014/R/Roseanna-Vitro/

Roseanna Vitro: Following Her Muse

By 

DAN BILAWSKY,

While the back panel of vocalist Roseanna Vitro's The Music Of Randy Newman (Motéma, 2011) says "File Under: Jazz/Pop/Vocals," those labels don't do her justice. Vitro's vocals are a conduit to the very core of American music—from blues and rock to soul and jazz—and her recorded output over the past three decades speaks to her talents and wide-ranging abilities in all of these arenas.

Some vocalists who have been dubbed "jazz singers" are afraid to move outside of the borders of tradition, but Vitro embraces all that she encounters, allowing every experience to enrich and deepen her own artistry.

Throughout her career, whether looking at her formative years in Arkansas and Texas, or her high-profile albums on the Telarc label in the '90s, Vitro has managed to avoid easy categorization, due in large part to the fact that she follows her artistic instincts instead of musical trends. When discussing this aspect of her career, which is immediately apparent when looking at her discography, Vitro notes, matter-of-factly, "I just follow my muse."

Her earliest connections to music—her parents—gave her a diverse introduction to music of all shapes and sizes. With a father who was, as Vitro notes, "an Italian opera buff, who was really like a mafia guy, into Frank Sinatra andDean Martin," and a mother who was raised on country and gospel music, "from a family of ten from the hills of Arkansas," she learned early on that music has no borders. In terms of absorbing all of these influences and allowing them to seep into her sound, Vitro mentions "we all just have to be who we are, and it doesn't mean we can't be educated and then develop, which hopefully I can say I've been doing."

When Vitro made her first big move, decades ago, from her hometown to Houston, Texas, she didn't have experience on her side and she was an unknown entity to the local musicians, but she had determination and the confidence that comes with youth. "It started out in Houston," Vitro says. "I don't even think I had a right to want what I wanted, because I didn't have that much experience about jazz under my belt, but when the jazz musicians discovered me in Houston and treated me with such love and respect [and] had a coming out party for me, once I got jazz and really got on fire about it, I never looked back and I was always looking for the greatest musicians to sing with.

I was so spoiled by my first band in Houston. Scott Hardy, a guitarist, who is now a bassist with Leslie Pintchik, who was a child prodigy there and is a fantastic musician, and Bliss Rodriguez, a blind pianist that could play in any key," along with saxophonist Arnett Cobb and other local heavyweights, helped Vitro gain confidence in her own abilities.

"These guys just spoiled me," she continues. "I just worked up songs like crazy and, I think, in the early days, this great gig I had at a room called the Green Room, where people like Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson came in and sat in with me and liked my singing, gave me the courage to just keep going on." Read more on: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40042

Roseanna Vitro is a storyteller, a jazz singer with a penchant for touching audiences

Roseanna Vitro is a storyteller, a jazz singer with a penchant for touching audiences.

Having toured the world as an esteemed performer, clinician, recording artist, vocal instructor and ambassador, she 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.

She 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.

Ms. 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.

Roseanna’s latest recording will be released in January 2011 is : Sail Away, the Randy Newman Project, featuring the brilliant compositions of Randy Newman reimagined through the arrangements of Mark Soskin, featuring Sara Caswell on violin, Dean Johnson, Tim Horner, Steve Cardenas, Jamey Haddad. JazzStories featuring Kenny Werner and Roseanna in a duo setting will follow in 2011.



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.

Having 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 presented concerts and workshops around the world.

Her celebrated performance in the Jazzaar 2010 – The Aargau Youth Pops Orchestra playing The Great American Songbook, (arranged by Bob Freedman – and Kevin Field conductor in Aarau, Switzerland will be aired on Swiss PBS Concert Series in 2011. The Maribor Philharmonic in Slovenia was a televised Christmas ‘Special’ in Eastern Europe in 2001 . Her studies of Indian vocal technique are documented in an article, “From Bebop To Bombay,” heralded by the International Association For Jazz Education Magazine.

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 displays a heart and a soul rare by any standards. She is a consummate artist whose professional outreach improves us all.

Recordings

The Randy Newman Project, (2010 TBA), JazzStories (2010 TBA) with Kenny Werner and Roseanna Vitro, The Delirium Blues Project; Serve or Suffer (Half Note Records 2008), Live At The Kennedy Center (Challenge International, 2006) • Tropical Postcards (A Records, 2004) • Conviction: Thoughts of Bill Evans (A Records, 2001) • Catchin’ Some Rays: The Music Of Ray Charles (Telarc, 1997) • Passion Dance (Telarc, 1996) • Softly (Concord, 1994) • Reaching For The Moon (CMG, 1991) • A Quiet Place (Skyline, 1987) • The Time Of My Life: The Songs Of Steve Allen (Seabreeze, 1986) • Listen Here (Skyline, 1985). Among the artists featured on these recordings are: Joey Baron, Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, Arnett Cobb, George Coleman, Eddie Daniels, Al Foster, Eddie Gomez, Eddie Henderson, Fred Hersch, Elvin Jones, Joe Lovano, Kevin Mahogany, Christian McBride, David “Fathead” Newman, Tim Ries, Trio da Paz, Kenny Werner, Kirk Whalum and Buster Williams.

Education
Vocal Jazz Improvisation, Rhiannon 2005-2008
Voice Technique, Barbara Maier 1990 -2010
Piano, Jason Teborek, 2006
Improvisation, Freddie Hendrix, 2005
Classical Indian Vocalese, Bombay, India 1998 -Teachers: Dhanashree Pandit Rae, Purvi Parikh, Uday Bhawalker
Piano, David Leonhart, 1997
Ear training and improvisation, Kenny Werner, 1990, 2007
Portugese lessons, Barbara Lubambo, 1990
Ear training, Fred Hersch, 1987
Voice Technique, Ann Marie Moss, 1982-1987
Classical Voice, Manhattan School of Music, Gabore Carelli, 1980-1982 (private applied lessons)
Jazz Voice, Ray Sullenger, 1972-1974
Piano, Sid Bernstein, 1972
Piano, basic theory, Texarkana Jr. College, 1970
Arkansas High School 1969
Teaching History SUNY Purchase University, Vocal Jazz Teacher 1999-2002
New Jersey City University Vocal Chair, 1998 – current
The Wachovia Teens Jazz Program at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center 2000-curren

Awards
Inducted into Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame 1998, with Bob Dorough and John Stubblefield.
2009 - New Jersey Jazz Society Jazz Leadership Award for excellence in teaching.
IAJE Award; 2008, 1998 Performance and Workshop Awards.