Episode 8 - Roberta Gambarini

Hello everyone,

This is Mirko Guerrini, and I welcome you to the Jazz Transcription Clinic, a monthly interviews podcast where we talk with accomplished jazz doctors about their lives, careers and their personal transcription secrets.

On this episode of the Jazz Transcription Clinic Podcast Mirko Guerrini interviews the guest jazz doctor: Roberta Gambarini

Roberta Gambarini was born in Turin, Italy, where she attended jazz concerts, clubs, and festivals with her parents. Her father played the saxophone, and she grew up hearing jazz in the house and learning by listening to records. Her first instrument was clarinet when she was 12, then piano. When she was 18, she moved to Milan to pursue a career as a vocalist. In Milan, she worked in radio and television without making progress on her ambition.

Roberta Gambarini moved to the U.S. in 1998 and won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. A few weeks after her arrival in America, she entered the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and came in third behind Teri Thornton and Jane Monheit. She was invited to sing in New York City, where she met Benny Carter and James Moody. Moody became her teacher, mentor, and friend. Her album So in Love was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. In 2004, she started touring with the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, performing with James Moody, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Paquito d'Rivera, and Roy Hargrove. From 2006–2007 she toured with her own trio, as well as the Hank Jones trio. She sang at the premiere of "Cannery Row Suite", a piece by Dave Brubeck commissioned for the Monterey Jazz Festival. Her debut album, Easy to Love (Groovin' High, 2006) was nominated for a Grammy Award. You Are There was a collaboration with Hank Jones.

Awards

2007: Easy to Love, nominated for Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album

2010: So in Love, nominated for Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album

Discography

Apreslude with Antonio Scarano (Splasch, 1991)

Easy to Love (Groovin' High, 2006)

You Are There with Hank Jones (EmArcy, 2007) – recorded in 2005

So in Love with James Moody, Roy Hargrove (EmArcy, 2009)

The Shadow of Your Smile: Homage to Japan (Groovin' High, 2013)

Connecting Spirits: Roberta Gambarini Sings the Jimmy Heath Songbook (Groovin' High, 2015)

Dedications: Roberta Gambarini Honors Ella, Sarah & Carmen (Groovin' High, 2019)

As guest

Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band, Dizzy's Business, (MCG Jazz, 2006)

Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band, I'm Be Boppin' Too (Half Note, 2009)

Roy Hargrove Big Band, Emergence (EmArcy, 2009)

Paul Kuhn, Swing 85 (In+Out, 2013)

James Moody & Hank Jones, Our Delight (IPO, 2008)

New Stories, Hope Is in the Air: The Music of Elmo Hope (Origin, 2004)

 

In this episode, Roberta talks about how she got into transcribing, and how she developed her own personal notation to mark down all the expressions and tempo variations that are hard to write with traditional notation.

She also recounts how she learned vocalese as a form of expression.

Artists mentioned in this episode: Herbie Hancock, Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, James Moody, Benny Golson, Dizzy Gillespie and many others.

You can check Roberta Gambarini here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberta_Gambarini

You can check Mirko Guerrini's music here: https://mirkoguerrini.bandcamp.com

or here

https://www.mirkoguerrini.com

Mirko Guerrini is a D'Addario artist, playing D'Addario mouthpieces and reeds.

You can download this podcast episode, or any other episode here:

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Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/.../8b6f521b-d990-4c37-9a92

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which this podcast is being recorded. I pay my respect to their Elders, past and present, and the Aboriginal Elders of other communities who may be here today.