Vocalist Roseanna Vitro - performer, recording artist, educator and journalist - reissues 'Listen Here', the debut album that launched her career. Featuring veteran pianist Kenny Barron, the project ushered into the spotlight a formidable new artist with chops and sensitivity in equal measure - a galvanizing spirit who, having already proven she could move live audiences, now certified her power on vinyl. Though this is a first recording, Vitro shows herself a mature jazz singer. Vitro decided to re-release 'Listen Here' because the time was right. She and her husband Paul Wickliffe, an accomplished sound engineer with a storied career, recently became grand- parents. Their perspective has changed. "It was time to take stock of my life and look back at my career," she says. "Some of my earlier records were never transferred to a digital format, so they are no longer available. And many reviewers and DJ's who have known me over the years have moved on. I think these early recordings stand the test of time, and I want to introduce them to a new generation." Esteemed jazz journalist Neil Tesser said in USA Today, "Roseanna can sing rings around half the vocalists you can name. Her warm, confident clarity of tone is immediately noticeable, but most startling is her boldness of phrasing." He might have added, "her unerring talent for finding the truth - through song, through the communal experience of sharing it." The evidence can be heard easily.
Texas Rose Music, TRM1001,
1984
Skyline Records, 2001, 2021
Recorded 4th October, 1982 at
Skyline Studios, New York City
Musicians:
Roseanna Vitro - Vocals
Arnett Cobb -Saxophone (#A3,A4,B2)
Kenny Barron - Piano
Bliss Rodriguez - Piano (#A3)
Scott Hardy - Guitar (#A6)
Buster Williams - Bass
Ben Riley - Drums
Duduka Da Fonseca - Percussion
(#A1,A6)
Tracks:
A1. No More Blues {Antônio
Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Jon Hendricks} (3:02)
A2. You Go To My Head {Haven
Gillespie, J. Fred Coots} (4:12)
A3. Centerpiece {Harry
Edison, Jon Hendricks} (4:59)
A4. Love You Madly {Duke
Ellington} (4:54)
A5. A Time For Love {Johnny
Mandel, Paul Francis Webster} (5:43)
A6. This Happy Madness
{Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes} (3:39)
B1. Listen Here {David
Frishberg} (3:06)
B2. It Could Happen To You
{Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen} (3:20)
B3. Easy Street {Alan Rankin
Jones} (3:48)
B4. Sometime Ago {Sergio
Mihanovich} (3:49)
B5. You Took Advantage Of Me
{Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart} (3:13)
B6. Black Coffee {Paul
Francis Webster, Sonny Burke} (5:10)
Total Time: 49:00
Credits:
Producer, Recording &
Mixing - Paul Wickliffe
Associate Producer, Arranger
- Fred Hersch
Cover Design - Jayne Travis
Photography - Ian Anderson
Liner Notes - Steve Allen
