Years active 1985–Present Name Roseanna Vitro | ||
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Born February 28, 1951 (age 73) ( 1951-02-28 ) Role Singer · roseannavitro.com Record labels Motema Music, Telarc International Corporation, Concord Records, Halfnote Records, Challenge Records Similar People Mark Soskin, Kenny Werner, Clare Fischer, Melmak, Bernie Marsden | ||
Jazz singer roseanna vitro live at njpac with joe lovano
Roseanna Vitro is a jazz singer and teacher.
Contents
- Jazz singer roseanna vitro live at njpac with joe lovano
- Jazz vocalist roseanna vitro pianist kenny werner some other time
- Biography
- Discography
- Awards and honors
- References
Jazz vocalist roseanna vitro pianist kenny werner some other time
Biography
Born Roseanna Elizabeth Vitro in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on February 28, 1951, Vitro began singing at an early age, drawing inspiration from gospel, rock, rhythm and blues, musical theatre, and classical music. During the 1950s, her father owned a night club in Hot Springs called The Flamingo. He loved Dean Martin's music and opera, and her mother's family sang gospel. By the 1960s, she was determined to be a rock singer.
Vitro was exposed to jazz and it became her genre of choice after moving to Houston, Texas in the 1970s. Ray Sullenger discovered Vitro and presented her to the Houston jazz community where sang frequently with tenor Arnett Cobb. Vitro worked for two years in Houston's Green Room with her group "Roseanna with Strings and Things" hosting a radio show on KUHF-FM. Many jazz musicians stopped in and played with Strings and Things, such as Cobb, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Tommy Flanagan and Keter Betts. Cobb, Peterson, and Sullenger encouraged her to dedicate herself to jazz.
In 1978 she moved to New York City with guitarist Scott Hardy and began to study with Gabor Carelli, a professor from the Manhattan School of Music, and started performing with Kenny Werner and Fred Hersch. She sang with Lionel Hampton and later toured with him. She appeared at The Blue Note, Iridium, Birdland, and Dizzy's Jazz Club at Lincoln Center. She appeared with Steve Allen at The Town Hall and recorded an album of Allen's songs. In 2005 she performed with Kenny Werner at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Throughout her career she has collaborated with musicians such as Christian McBride, Elvin Jones, Gary Bartz, Kevin Mahogany and David "Fathead" Newman, all of whom have appeared on her recordings. Vitro is an active performer, touring throughout the United States and abroad. She has been broadcast on WBGO-FM (Newark, New Jersey) and on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. She has recorded thirteen critically acclaimed CDs and toured throughout the U.S. The Music of Randy Newman. received 4 1/2 stars in Down Beat magazine and a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2012.
Vitro has taught vocal jazz at State University of New York at Purchase and currently holds a teaching post at New Jersey City University and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She holds frequent workshops, clinics, and master classes. She has studied classical voice, ear-training, classical Indian vocal technique, Portuguese language, piano, and jazz technique and concept.
Discography
Except where indicated, all information is from The Encyclopedia of Popular Music at Oxford Music Online.