Singer Roberta Gambarini Interviewed at AAJ

It's been an out-of-the-ordinary career trip for Roberta Gambarini--a trip that's seen her go from a young girl in Italy, scatting along with records by American singers Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, to struggling to get singing gigs in her native land, to grabbing an opportunity to come to the United States, to gaining recognition by respected elders like Benny Carter, James Moody, Clark Terry and nonagenarian pianist Hank Jones, who has proclaimed her "the best jazz singer to emerge in sixty years."

She was accepted into certain jazz circles over a decade ago, and doors begin to open, even if slowly at first. But always behind that acceptance was a natural, exceptional talent, without which she wouldn't have opened certain ears and eyes--and doors--in the first place. She's blossomed, since coming to the United States in 1998, into one of the very best singers out there. She owns a wonderful instrument: her vocal cords, displaying power and nuance, rich textures and flexibility. And she's always working on how to convey a song with the right feeling and tell a story. It's important to her.

AAJ Contributor R.J. DeLuke spoke with Gambarini about her new album, So In Love (Groovin' High/Emarcy, 2009), choosing unorthodox material for interpretation, and the importance of the pianists she has worked with in her relatively brief, yet meteoric career.

Check out Roberta Gambarini: Making Listeners Fall 'So In Love' at AAJ today!