Love and Beauty also offers another surprise: Roberta's vocal debut. Her singing on the Billy Mintz original “Destiny" has been described as “pitch-perfect." Roberta reveals, “I've been a closet singer for a long time, but I never did it publicly because I couldn't figure out how to integrate it organically into my trio music." She continues, “The last time we were on tour in California, I started singing Billy's tune on the gigs because it worked well within the context of our other repertoire, and people responded really positively. They told me I should come out of the closet! So I've been singing more, and little by little I am adding a few standards in a way that still allows the trio to sound like us. I think it's a new dimension for me as an artist, and for our trio."
In November of 2007, the trio will be returning to the West coast for their third consecutive year, touring from San Diego to Seattle. Comments Roberta, “The most important ingredient to making great jazz is to play with the same people consistently for a long period of time. This is a very rare thing in the jazz world now. I've had this trio with Ratzo and Billy for a few years now, and that shows in the music. When they hear us people can't believe how in sync we are. We can take so many chances and really play with an adventurous spirit and an exploratory approach because we have built up so much trust over the years."
In New York the trio can be heard on August 19th as part of the Harlem Meer Performance Festival at the Dana Discovery Center Central Park.
Roberta's stunning diversity is evident in the variety of projects she throws herself into. From her piano trio with Harris and Mintz, to the “new music" trio Fragments (Scott Hill, clarinets and saxophone; Eric km Clark, violin) which features compositions by each of the trio's members and multi-textural improvisations of substance and beauty, to her recent B3 organ excursions, the common link is the creativity and freedom with which each of these these projects are charged.
In May and June of 2007 Roberta will be touring Europe, performing with a variety of great European musicians including the drummer Klaus Kugel in Germany (best known for his work at the forefront of the European avant garde) and the guitarist Roland Heinz in Austria.
Roberta's new music work, “Five Poems by Nabokov" will be performed in New York on September 24 as part of the 21st Century. Schizoid Music series curated by Frank Oteri of the American Music Center. The work, composed for mezzo-soprano, violin, piano and speaker, blends neo-classical harmonic concepts with lush melodies and free improvisational sections to stunning effect.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
