Reviewer Leventhal considers Gambarini perhaps today's finest young jazz singer.

Gambarini's warm, velvety tone and scat-singing facility recall Fitzgerald; her near-flawless pitch and vast range are reminiscent of Vaughan; and her impeccable diction and the salty spin she puts on vowels conjure the young McRae.

Among Roberta's greatest gifts is her taste, which keeps her virtuosity in service to the music, and her understated ease onstage.

Roberta Gambarini was born in Torino, Italy and started performing while still in her teens, touring jazz clubs in northern Italy. Since 1985 she has played the most important festivals and venues in her country as well as many of the renowned international jazz festivals. In 1998 she moved to the United States with a scholarship from the New England Conservatory in Boston. Soon after she won third price at the International Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition, and shortly after moved to New York.

MUSIC REVIEW

GAMBARINI POSSESSES DISTINCTIVELY GREAT JAZZ SOUND
Boston Globe
By Kevin Lowenthal,
Globe Correspondent
January 10, 2005

Roberta Gambarini
At: Scullers, Thursday night, first set (Boston)

Thursday night, in her Boston debut at Scullers, Roberta Gambarini showed why she's being hailed by many insiders as perhaps today's finest young jazz singer. In a world of cool-to-a-fault Diana Kralls and mildly talented Jane Monheits, Gambarini is a true successor to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae.

Italian native Gambarini is an almost improbably complete singer. Her warm, velvety tone and scat-singing facility recall Fitzgerald; her near-flawless pitch and vast range are reminiscent of Vaughan; and her impeccable diction and the salty spin she puts on vowels conjure the young McRae.

Among the greatest of her gifts is her taste, which keeps her virtuosity in service to the music. Her understated ease onstage also places musical values front and center. With her first American CD, ''Easy to Love," slated to appear soon, she is poised to emerge into wider recognition.

Gambarini's generous first set included several jazz compositions as well as numbers from the American Songbook. She was backed by the tight, swinging trio of pianist Tamir Hendelman, bassist John Burr, and drummer Willie Jones III. The arrangements were varied and inventive, with Gambarini at various points singing alone, or in duet with each instrument as well as with the band.

She sang the beautiful introductory verse of Hoagy Carmichael's ''Stardust" a cappella, displaying her lustrous voice without a net. On her dramatic rendition of Billy Strayhorn's ''Lush Life," each syllable of the final line tolled like a bell.

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove materialized unexpectedly halfway through and played a rich-toned and tangy solo on the funky Johnny Griffin number ''The Jamfs Are Coming." He proffered biting fills in conversation with Gambarini on the blues tune ''C.C. Rider," then soloed sweetly on the classic ballad ''Lover Man."

Gambarini demonstrated her vocalese mastery with ''On the Sunny Side of the Street," modeled after Dizzy Gillespie's 1957 version of ''Sonny Side Up." Articulating clearly, using scat syllables and an occasional recognizable word, she successively sang Sonny Stitt's intricate tenor sax flights, Gillespie's high-pitched pyrotechnics, and Sonny Rollins's asymmetrical and witty tenor sax lines.

Benny Carter, the great alto saxophonist, arranger, and composer, became Gambarini's friend and mentor in the last years of his life. For her final number, she performed his classic ''When Lights Are Low," complete with its notoriously difficult, oft-avoided middle section. Even Miles Davis, in his famous traversal of the tune, mangled the middle as written.

The first time through, Gambarini negotiated the bridge gracefully, while the second time around she crossed that tricky structure with even greater aplomb. It's safe to say that Carter would've been proud.

She possesses distinctively great jazz sound
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/
2005/01/10/she_possesses_distinctively_great_jazz_sound/

Born in Torino, Italy from a family where jazz was much loved and appreciated, she began listening to this music as a child. She started performing while still in her teens, touring jazz clubs in northern Italy. Since 1985 she has played the most important festivals and venues in her country as well as many of the renowned international jazz festivals.

Roberta Gambarini has an instrumental approach and possesses a warm timbre, impeccable timing and intonation, incredible technique and scatting and improvisation skills.

She has been recording since 1986 both under her name and as a featured singer with most Italian musicians. In 1998 she moved to the United States with a scholarship from the New England Conservatory in Boston. In the same year she won third price at the International Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition.

Shortly after she moved to New York, and since then has performed with Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Toots Thielemans, Johnny Griffin, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Hank Jones, Christian McBride amongst many others.

Jazz Server - Roberta Gambarini
http://www.jazzserver.org/artists/roberta.gambarini?id
=07292c09d70f98d23154b6b5a95705bc