Roberta Gambarini: So In Love

Born in Torino, Italy, Gambarini came to the United States in 1998 and that same year competed with Jane Monheit and Tierney Sutton for that year's Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Vocal prize. Gambarini is no stranger to recording, having digitally waxed previously well received You Are There and Easy to Love. In these recordings, Gambarini concentrates on standards. It's a dicey proposition considering how the jazz vocal market is clotted with such recordings, many of them good but not exceptional. So what makes Gambarini different? Gambarini's gift is the most illusive: a perfect, or at the very least, a near-perfect vocal instrument that currently has no peer.

So In Love continues Gambarini's survey of the standards with a couple of near surprises. Gambarini's influences are so legion, perhaps the better way to consider her singing is what elements from past singers she chooses to color her performances. "Day In Day Out" recalls Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. "Crazy" suggests Patsy Cline, with a glass of wine, possibly a vintage Sangiovese (joined by Roy Hargrove on flugelhorn). "Estate" finds Gambarini firmly in her element, displaying her perfect instrument from the low to the high ends.

The The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers/Here, There and Everywhere" defines Gambarini as a vocalist who's no longer simply influenced but a future influence on others. She further establishes her considerable jazz identity with a sense of humor on Johnny Griffin's "You Ain't Nothing But a JAMF" to which she penned clever lyrics and provided the most wicked scat singing since Louis Armstrong goofed on "Heebie Jeebies" during the "Jazz Age" 1920s. Her instrumentation is the simple piano trio, better to display her considerable talent and ability. "Over the Rainbow" ends this fine recital on a golden note.

Joined by the likes of Hargrove, James Moody, George Mraz, Al Foster and Jeff Hamilton, Gambarini lives up to her Scott Yanow billing as the next important jazz singer. Gambarini emerges as one recalls what well-conceived and well-executed jazz singing can be.

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