Search - Roberta Gambarini, Hank Jones :: You Are There

Thom P. from LEEDS, AL
Reviewed on 5/25/2011...

Fantastic!

Be forewarned. This CD is almost identical to the "Lush Lif

Mary Whipple | New England | 09/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(5 stars for Roberta, but be careful with the CD). Following up on the success of "Easy to Love," Roberta Gambarini released a 2006 collection of fourteen songs, which is entitled "Lush Life" and which, to date, has achieved four, five-star ratings on Amazon under the ASIN of B000JLPKVE. "You Are There," THIS product, is almost exactly the same album, and Amazon's "Better Together" feature, on this page, in which they urge you to "Buy this album with Lush Life at $64.95," will surely disappoint anyone who loves Roberta enough to spend that kind of money for two CDs.



Though both CDs contain fourteen songs and play at over an hour, ten of the fourteen songs from this CD are identical to those on "Lush Life." "You are There," this CD, omits "Skylark," "Body and Soul," "Cool Breeze," and "Lush Life #2," all of which were recorded in an exciting live performance at the Umbria Jazz Festival, and substitutes "People Time," "You're Getting to be a Habit," "Come Sunday," and "How Are Things in Glocca Morra." If you happen to love the four that are included here instead of the four "live" songs on "Lush Life," maybe this CD will appeal to you, but you must be willing to pay the very steep purchase price.



If, for some reason, you decide to buy this CD INSTEAD of "Lush Life," you will find Roberta brilliant, as always. Limiting the accompaniment to just the piano of Hank Jones, she is very much a cabaret singer here, singing mostly slow, sad ballads with her gorgeous alto, and varying the phrasing to give new emphasis to the lyrics. There are no vocal pyrotechnics here, as she concentrates on the song itself, rather than taking it into new realms with improvisation and variation. The result is a wonderfully moody CD which has moments of excitement but only a few hints of her huge talent with scat and high energy jazz variations. n Mary Whipple



"

A good voice and a feeling for jazz improvisation.

jimmy | Los Angeles,CA | 02/14/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When all's said and done, all a good singer needs is a good pianist. Ella Fitzgerald never sounded better than with Ellis Larkins, and here, Roberta Gamabarini does well to entrust her youthful voice to the expert hands of Hank Jones.

Italian singer Roberta Gambarini walks this musical tightrope on her new album, where the only accompaniment is provided by Hank Jones's discreet piano.

Eldest and last of the Jones dynasty that included superstar drummer Elvin and trumpeter Thad, Hank knows every great song inside-out.

"Stardust" and "Deep Purple" reflect his taste and mature ability to combine modern chord voicings with the earlier right-hand elegance of a Teddy Wilson.

Roberta, a bright newcomer from Italy, now based in New York, lacks Ella's unique tonal richness but has similar warmth and flexibility.

She was born in Turin and in 1998 moved to the USA, where she won third place in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition and was more recently voted No. 1 talent deserving wider recognition in Down Beat's 2007 Critics' Poll.

(Her very first CD, currently unavailable, was released in 19991 for BMG with the title "APRESLUDE" with Italian guitarist Antonio Scarano).

"The tracks on ARE YOU THERE explore various melodic permutations of some of the pair's favorite standards by the likes of Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Billy Strayhorn, Irving Berlin and EY Harburg--the intent, it seems, being to extract as much beauty from the line as possible. Gambarini displays an aptitude for bebop scatting unusual in singers of her generation, especially on "When The Lights Are Low" and "Just Squeeze Me", during which she and Jones swap brief and inspired musical anecdotes.

Beyond melodic interpretation, the pair apply great restraint to the tempi; even on tunes like "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me", more commonly played at a toe-tapping clip, Gambarini lays back into the cheerful lyrics while Jones expands leisurely on the melody.(Suzanne Lorge).

This is her third CD released in US (the first was called "Lush Life" and the second, "Easy to Love" was nominated for 49th Grammy Best Jazz Vocal Album along with "Footprints" by Karrin Allyson , "Live At Jazz Standard With Fred Hersch" by Nancy King, "From This Moment On" by Diana Krall and "Turned To Blue" by Nancy Wilson).

Ten of these songs are identical to those on the "Lush Life" CD, released in the US in December, 2006.

The album displays a vocalist who is already mature in technique and interpretation. She has a clear, light voice - perhaps too lightweight for a darkly mournful song like "Suppertime", the cry of a woman widowed by a lynching. This Irving Berlin song (from the 1933 show "As Thousands Cheer") is just one of several unhackneyed items in a programme that includes little-known numbers by Harburg & Schwartz ("I'll Be Tired of You"), Frishberg & Mandel' You are there' and four tracks by Ellington.

There are also two compositions by Benny Carter: "People Time" and "When Lights Are Low" - the former sung without words but entirely as slow scat.

Hank Jones's accompaniments are consistently sympathetic and tasteful, following Roberta's lead rather than dictating her direction.

On some tracks he gets the chance to stretch out with his own solos, which are always well built.

A good example is in "Just Squeeze Me", where his striding left hand ably drives his melodious right hand.

She clearly has the necessary talent: a good voice and a feeling for jazz improvisation.

Stand out tracks : "When Lights Are Low", which sparkles with agile improvisation and easy swing and "Just Squeeze me".

Easy To Love

Footprints

Live at Jazz Standard

From This Moment On

Turned to Blue

"