Music & Majesty: Singer Roberta Gambarini Discusses Her Jazz Journey As She Gears Up For Her Singapore Showcase

The Jazz Affiliation (Singapore) charity was established in September 2016 to advertise the participation, engagement and excellence of jazz in Singapore. Yearly since, the affiliation has hosted the JASS Profit Gala. This yr’s headliner is two-time Grammy Nominee, Roberta Gambarini who can be performing alongside Jazz Affiliation Singapore Orchestra (JASSO) led by Maestro Jeremy Monteiro. A gifted performer with a robust voice as well (skills of her clear alto had been already highlighted by the age of 12), Roberta’s 2008 duet album titled You Are There with pianist Hank Jones cemented her standing as some of the celebrated jazz performers within the twenty first century. Gambarini sits down with LUXUO to debate her profession highlights, the shifts she’s witnessed throughout the Jazz business and her future objectives forward of her efficiency at this yr’s Jazz Affiliation (Singapore) Gala.

You will have carried out at main live performance halls and festivals all over the world. It have to be thrilling to be performing in Singapore, how does it differ from different cities you have got appeared at? Do you have got a favorite metropolis?

Singapore is one in every of my favorite locations on the planet for performing and visiting. I’ve been right here many instances by way of the years, and each time it’s been like falling in love once more: I’m awed on the structure, the wealthy range of its cultures, and the heat of the audiences. My mentor James Moody, a long time in the past earlier than my first journey, spoke to me enthusiastically about Singapore, I nonetheless bear in mind his actual phrases: “You’ll be so impressed by Singapore… prepare for one thing wonderful!”  …and he was proper!

Do you have got any expectations about working with Jazz Affiliation (Singapore) (JASS) Profit Gala for the primary time?

Working with the Jazz Affiliation (Singapore) (JASS) is a good honour for me, and I’m anticipating having an exquisite musical expertise singing on the Gala, and dealing with JASS.

What are your ideas on the jazz music business right now and has it advanced a lot from while you first began your journey in jazz music?

The jazz business, as many different industries, has modified considerably within the final years. I’d say that the disaster of CD gross sales and of the report firm companies has given rise to the phenomenon of streaming, which has modified the panorama and the modalities of fruition of music. The overwhelming significance of social media has additionally been a key issue on this change.

There was loads of dialogue these days concerning the usage of digital units by the viewers throughout an on-stage efficiency, what’s your tackle recording of a dwell efficiency? Do you personally take offence that the viewers is distracted by their digital units, for instance taking a selfie, throughout your efficiency? 

Social media are actually the first medium that permits an artist to work together together with his/her viewers. I’m not in any respect displeased when folks within the viewers movie elements of the live performance or take footage, supplied it’s executed with out flash cameras, as a result of abrupt vivid flash lights might be startling to a performer. I take into account it an indication of appreciation when listeners share pictures from my concert events on social media. 

Do you suppose social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are good mediums to showcase one’s expertise in right now’s digital period?

Social media platforms akin to Tik Tok and Instagram are an exquisite approach for an artist to have direct interplay with the viewers. However there’s a hazard ingrained within the construction of social media platforms: the video snippets of performances posted are quick. A musical interpretation as a creative type is a type of storytelling, and storytelling requires time and a spotlight on the a part of each the performer and the listener. In an effort to make sense in any respect, it must be a really deep and intimate expertise. Thus far, the construction of social media platforms has inspired the sharing of small snippets, which within the present basic nervousness to “seize consideration” find yourself being snippets of acrobatics or options meant to shortly seize the viewer’s consideration. So the hazard we’re experiencing now on social media is to have a platform media that’s flooded with small and superficial items of a efficiency, moreover shortening the eye span of the listener, and taking the general public additional away from music as an artwork. 

You grew up in Turin and labored extensively in Milan all through your twenties, might you inform us extra about your formative or pivotal moments as a musician throughout your life in Italy? 

My youth in Milan had been very intense musically, but additionally very onerous. On the time a jazz musical schooling was not but accessible, and there have been colossal prejudices towards the truth that a woman may very well be a jazz performer and chief. Monetary hardship coupled with coping with prejudice taught me to belief my very own instinct, have power in my very own selections, and battle for what I imagine in.  

Having lived in america, rising up in Turin and dealing extensively in Milan, does town you’re in have an effect on the inspiration behind your music?

I moved to the US after a decade of concert events (I began performing jazz very younger, at age 17), a decade once I studied music privately (classical composition), and taught myself the basics of jazz piano and improvisation. After I moved to the US, I received an Artist Diploma scholarship on the New England Conservatory, however I used to be nearly immediately drawn within the jazz neighborhood of New York when Jimmy Heath, Billy Higgins, Curtis Fuller and plenty of different Greats invited me to carry out with their teams. So, I left Boston and the New England after lower than a yr, and moved to NYC. Since 1998, my schooling owes every part to the teachings of Giants akin to James Moody, Clark Terry, Hank Jones, Benny Carter and the Greats I discussed earlier than. It was an intensive and deep schooling that occurred on stage and off. So far as inspiration, each Metropolis and each place offers some. I discover loads of inspiration in the pure world, I make a degree of strolling within the nature each day, even in NYC the place we’ve many lovely parks. 

Is there a dream metropolis you hope to take the stage on? 

I’ve performed in many of the main cities on the planet, however there are a couple of that I haven’t reached but — one is Ulan-Bator in Mongolia, and one other is the Amazonian metropolis of Manaus.

Was there one other artist that impressed you or that you just regarded as much as?

There are such a lot of artists that I look as much as, the listing is so big, I’ll attempt to identify only a few — Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Wayne Shorter, Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballe, Artwork Tatum, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen Mc Rae, Nat King Cole, Billie Vacation and Anita O’Day.

You will have two Grammy-nominated albums and are internationally thought to be a famend jazz musician, what has been a profession spotlight for you so far and what’s the following purpose for you?

Awards are fantastic, they usually undoubtedly assist one’s profession. My main purpose now could be to carry into actuality a collection of tasks that for a lot of causes (the pandemic, some severe issues within the well being of some family members) have needed to be delayed. These tasks will come out in 2024, they embrace an album with the Tuscan Symphony Orchestra, a duo album with piano nice Cyrus Chestnut, a brand new album with many different musical friends, and a undertaking with Argentinian pianist Pablo Ziegler (Astor Piazzolla’s pianist of a few years) which fuses Jazz with Nuevo Tango. I’m doing loads of lyrics writing lately, however sooner or later, I intend to focus way more on composing and arranging.

What was your expertise like working with Singaporean pianist Jeremy Monteiro? 

The nice Jeremy Monteiro was launched to me by my mentor, the late Jazz Grasp James Moody, who held him in nice esteem. I’m actually completely happy that this encountered occurred, as a result of singing with Jeremy Monteiro has been an incredible expertise ever since, and a supply of fantastic inspiration and fellowship. 

You’ll be holding masterclasses in Singapore in September 2023. What can we count on from them?

I’m very dedicated to instructing as a imply to share with younger musicians the information that the Greats had been so beneficiant to share with me. I’m actually wanting ahead to the Singapore grasp lessons. In instructing, I additionally really feel very impressed by the drive and dedication that I see in musicians all around the world, it’s a signal that jazz may be very a lot alive and thriving.

Lastly, what phrases of knowledge would you prefer to impart to younger artists who wish to break into the music and jazz business?

There’s a phrase that the good Roy Hargrove used to say to younger musicians: “Care for the music, and the music will handle you”. I believe that that is the absolute best recommendation that may be given to any musician, younger or not. The music enterprise modifications through the years together with the societal modifications, however music is a common language that belongs to the religious realm, and the first focus ought to all the time be saved on it. With music first in thoughts, then one can and should navigate these difficult instances which ask for lots of persistence, endurance and resilience. 

This yr’s Jazz Affiliation (Singapore) Gala can be held on 2 September 2023, at Shangri-La Lodge Singapore. Click on right here to search out out extra.

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