2012 - Goodbye! Merry Christmas to all...and welcome 2013

2012 was a very good year... except for Hurricane Sandy!

     All the New York, New Jersey, Staten Island area are still trying to recover.  I'm watching Hurricane Sandy Relief tonight and it's a beautiful thing to see all the great bands hitting to raise money for those who've lost their homes.  My neighborhood was hit badly and we had no power for a couple of weeks, but our house is still standing, so we were lucky.

     It's Christmas time and I'll be off to Dallas, Texas once again to spend time with my sisters and my sweet mother, Ruby, Paul and Sarah in tow.

     I'm working on new Clare Fischer music and Mark Soskin and I are working on three new songs this friday, so we are making progress.  January 18th at the Kitano in NYC, we'll debut some of the new material with the RNP Band- I'm so psyched! 

      Our Band has their Own APP now!  Check this out and it's FREE ! Download this and you can keep up with whatever we're up to: copy this link:

http://www.reverbnation.com/mobile-app/55137/roseannavitrotherandynewmanproject

 For Facebookers - I've got quite a collection of photo's from 2012...follow this link if you'd like to see them.  

https://www.facebook.com/yearinreview/roseanna.vitro 

Don't forget to check out my new "Voices In Jazz"   http://jazztimes.com/sections/voices/articles

Merry Merry Christmas to all.  Peace, love and happiness.  Love Ro

Happy Thanksgiving - December 5th Concert!

​December 5th  Wednesday 8 pm. - 10 pm. Join me for a special ​Concert at ​Zeb's Place   http://www.zebulonsoundandlight.com/contact2.htm

​Roseanna Vitro sings the first set 8 pm. to 8: 45 pm. with Jason Teborek, Tom DiCarlo,  Tim Horner and the Famous Saul Ruben on guitar!


​​The NJCU Vocal Jazz Stars : Valerie Boseman, Samille Ganges, Sara Guttmann, Rafaela Gurtler ​will perform two songs each - Don't Miss this - Jam Session follows !
​$10. http://www.zebulonsoundandlight.com/contact2.htm

The Randy Newman Project Band - would like to THANK everyone who turned out for the November 3rd.  Kennedy Center Concert!  A great time was had by all!  Thanks to Kevin Struthers and Jean Thill and everyone at the Kennedy Center.  Kudo's to the Palomar Hotel.  We had just gone through the nightmare of Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast.  All railways and buses and planes were not flying in the early stages of this hurricane.  We were lucky to be able to drive down to Washington and grateful for the wonderful treatment we were given by everyone at KC's.

November 3rd, Join Us! Roseanna & The RNP - The Kennedy Center Jazz Club

Roseanna Vitro and The Randy Newman Project Band !  November 3rd.,  2012
KC's Jazz Club . The Kennedy Center
   Dean Johnson, Sara Caswell, Mark Soskin,  Tim Horner   photo John Abbott!

November 3rd.  Roseanna & The RNP present music from our Grammy Nominated Album, plus new tracks and surprises!

 Tickets: http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/jazzclub/home.html

shows:  7:30 pm. & 9:30 pm.  

October 16th- The James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival

The School season has begun.  I'm still teaching at NJPAC in Newark in the Wells Fargo Jazz for Teens program and also at New Jersey City University.  I work with many great musician/performers and I'm excited to annouce this upcoming concert with Don Braden, Mike Ledonne, Dion Parson, Andy McKee, Earl McIntyre, Ron Jackson, Valery Ponomarev and Bruce Williams.
             The Newark Museum of Art - October 16th at 7 pm. Free The music of James Moody!
   

 
October 16th - The New Jersey Performing Arts Center Jazz for Teens Teachers perform as part of the James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival at The Newark Museum of Art 7 pm. FREE!    http://www.newarkmuseum.org/  Roseanna Vitro, Don Braden, Mike Ledonne, Bruce Williams, Valery Ponomarev, Ron Jackson, Dion Parson, Andy McKee, Earl McIntyre.

September 8th & 9th - Concerts in Seattle

                 Fall Special Performance  Nich Anderson's  2012 

                                      JazzVox Vocal Series

                                Dena DeRose   Roseanna Vitro

                                 http://www.JazzVox.com   

Concerts September 8th, Northgate 7:00 pm.  (Workshop 11 am.- 3 pm.)

Contact Nich 206 963-2430

September 9th, Camano Island.  1:00 pm. Afternoon Concert Seattle, WA.  

Suggested Donation $30. concerts

Workshop $60.

http://www.RoseannaVitro.com

http://www.DenaDeRose.com

Read My New Column in JazzTimes.com - Voices In Jazz

   I'm excited to get back to blogging and begin a new season with a column in JazzTimes.com  online.  Voices In Jazz is an offshoot of my Facebook/Vocal Jazz site:  JVOICE (http://www.facebook.com/pages/JVOICE-Jazz-Vocalists-Offering-Instructional-Curriculum-for-Education/106379385885).  On JVOICE I have interviewed over thirty excellent jazz vocalists who perform and teach vocal jazz.  My interest is to improve the system of education for singers around the world, whatever style of music they sing.  Of course my focus has been jazz.  My latest interview is with Master Teacher, Bob Stoloff.  Check it out!


http://jazztimes.com/articles/45345-bob-stoloff-scat

Summer is here -

May 31st. 7 pm. to 11 pm.  The Annual Cleopatra's Needle Student/Teacher Engagement.  Cleo's is on Broadway in NYC between 92nd. an 93rd. St.  I'll be singing and my students: Kristen Dziuba, Rafaela Gurtler, Sara Guttman.  Jason Teborek piano, Dean Johnson bass and Tim Horner drums.  This is always a fun night filled with surprises.

April and May have flown by.  I had some wonderful gigs and great experiences with students from both programs this year.  In April I performed with the New Jersey City Big Band directed by Ed Joffe and we played at the famous Jazz Vespers Concert Series at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, N.J.  The one and only Dorthaan Kirk books this series (long time WBGO artistic counselor).  Mark Gross played alto on the concert which really made the music special.  Thank you to all the guys who played their best on my charts.
   The end of the school year brings a sad goodbye to another extremely talented student, Kristen Dziuba. In the past few years, Kristen has grown into one heck of a great musician, improviser, lyricist and composer/arranger.  It's always sad when it's time for a student to move on but this is a teachers job to prepare them to fly on their own.  
   May also brought a tribute to the great jazz vocalist, Mark Murphy for his 80th Birthday at The Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC.   Jean-Pierre LeDuc organized a great group of singers who performed as well as Mark.  I sang as well as Dena DeRose, Giacomo Gates, Amy London, Rhiannon, Sachal Vasanandi, Tom Lellis, Tessa Souter  and Steve Ross.  What a great night it was.

Photo: Tessa Souter, Roseanna Vitro, Rhiannon, Tom Lellis and Mark Murphy -Blue Note Jazz Club 5/21st/2012
   On May 22nd. the NJPAC Jazz for Teens Program had the final concert.  I worked with seven kids who have a lot of spunk and heart and talent.  They were great in concert and I'll miss the graduates out of the class who will go on to college this next year.

Lyn, Britany, Grace, Makyra, Osa (back row) and (front row) Destiny, Ro, D'Ana and Bemigho
The NJPAC Vocal Jazz Class - 2012...Love you guys..
   
    Watch my website for gigs and new projects.  Clare Fischer's son Brent reached out to me recently and I may be doing a new project of Clare's music.  What could be cooler than that?  
     Ro

The 54th Annual Grammys Experience

It's been three weeks since my return from Hollywood and the 54th Annual Grammy Awards Ceremony. The Vocal Jazz nomination for : "The Music of Randy Newman" (Motéma Music) will always be a highlight in my life, not only for myself, but my entire family. I only wish I could have shared the entire trip with my band, who worked diligently for a year and a half rehearsing and putting the music and arrangements together. Special thanks to Mark Soskin, pianist for his playing and arrangements, Sara Caswell violin for her sensitivity, arranging additions and fine musicianship, Dean Johnson bassist extraordinaire and Tim Horner excellent drummer and percussionist. A special 'Thank you' to manager/friend Jeffrey Levenson for attending all of the bands rehearsals, giving advice and support throughout the birth of my project. I did share this experience with my husband and engineer of the project, Paul Wickliffe, daughter Sarah, my sisters, niece, mom, her best friend and even my cousin and my make up artist Adele. What an entourage.

Terri Lynn Carrington, famed jazz drummer won The Vocal Jazz award for her recording, "Mosaic" which featured a who's who of famous singers and female musicians, ie. Diane Reeves Casandra Wilson, Esperanza Spalding, Gretchen Parlato and more. The other three vocalists in my category were: Kurt Elling, Tierney Sutton and Karrin Allyson. All of the recordings were very good and it was an honor to be considered with this group.

The entire weekend was a whirlwind experience. All of my family were booked in a Doubletree Hotel in L.A. and we all arrived on friday afternoon. We immediately picked up our tickets at the Staple Center and proceeded on to El Cholo across the street which boasts the finest margaritas and Mexican fare you can imagine. Saturdays events included a Nominees Only event; The Lifetime Achievement Awards Ceremony, which honored, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Diana Ross, The Allman Brothers, George Jones and Glen Cambell followed by a huge dinner and concerts of Grammy kids bands, plus photos and receiving the 'gold medal' medallion (photo from my cell phone at top left the moment I put it on!). This was too exciting, I think my face says it all.

In the evening after the dinner and ceremony, my family met at famed Beverly Hills Restaurant Villa Blanca for drinks and dinner followed by a white limo sight seeing tour of Hollywood for my entire group. We had a blast, rocking out to listening cds I made for the trip. I'm not sure the Russian limo driver appreciated the Tex/Mex mix we were singing with complete with: Lorretta Lynn's, "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man" and "Texarkana Baby". Harry Levenson had a hard time with the C&W and Jeffrey rode in the front of the limo with the driver. We returned around 12 midnight with everyone exhausted but ready for Grammy Day.

Grammy Day started with make up (Adele Fass) , hair stylist (Jerry Lambert), a solid breakfast and a mind set that no matter who wins the Grammy, we are set. I knew that each record in my category could easily win. All of the projects were excellent, but we all knew that Terri Lynn was poised to take the prize with an album loaded with famous singers. Many people felt her project should have been entered in another category, but NARAS had deleted over 30 categories and Terri's album met the rules of 51 minutes of vocals for our category. It's all good. After the winner was announced in the pre-show telecast (around 2pm.) my family put on their comfortables shoes and strolled back over to El Cholo! When you go to the Grammys, you've got to have lunch or dinner there and you'll understand why Robert Redford recommends the margaritas and food.

We were happy and satisfied and ready for the Grammys. Paul and I headed to the Nominees Red Carpet area. I got in line, said hello to Diana Krall. Then proceeded to follow Kathy Griffin, posing on the red carpet with over 75 photographers hollering 'Roseanna, look this way' ! Lol.. Steve Van Zandt was standing beside me before hitting the stage to play guitar with Bruce Springstein. Very cool.

Paul and I had good seats surrounded by other nominees and totally enjoyed the show. Jennifer Hudson was astounding in her tribute to the passing and memory of Whitney Houston. It was a great show and afterwards we headed for the giant after party, where Judi and Joe Lovano were a welcome sight to hang out with. Not everyone in my group got to attend the big party because of Naras selling out of tickets in the first 2 days, but other than that, a great time was had by all. I am inspired on a different level now. After over 30 years singing jazz and teaching for 15 years, this award was mindblowing and unexpected. I am working hard on a couple of new projects and hey- we'll see what happens next?

February 12th, 2012 ... Grammy Announcement Day

I must say that I have been swept up in all the excitement of being a Grammy Nominee this year. But, just like the Federal Government, I believe the NARAS Association needs some house cleaning and reform especially after last year's category cuts. I'm closely watching how NARAS is handling this controversy and I feel strongly there are enough honest members interested in a serious review of last years changes.





On a happier note, this past wednesday, NARAS threw parties on both coasts for Grammy Nominees. This was such a thrill for me to stand with Tierney Sutton, Kurt Elling and Karrin Allyson. I admire them all very much and I am honored to be part of the group. Terri Lynn Carrington could not be there (she is the 5th Vocal Jazz Nominee). Apparently Terri Lynn was allowed in the Vocal Jazz category because she had over 51 minutes of vocals on her album. I've always dug Terri Lynn and she certainly made a fine album.
I am looking forward to hitting the road on February 10th with all of my family in tow. My mother Ruby, her best friend Ann Cox, Sisters Debbie Vitro and Karen Penrod, Debbie's daughter, my niece Lily Smith, husband Paul, daughter Sarah, her boyfriend Dave Pagano, my charming-hair dresser to the stars - Jerry Lambert and his adorable Chef husband Scott Largent. Did I leave anyone out? Lol We're all staying at fabulous Double-Tree where we can hang and party and enjoy what I feel is a 'nod' from my peers.
I'm very grateful at this moment even though this is a difficult time for NARAS. I have faith that it's all gonna work out, that NARAS will re-instate categories that's disenfranchised great artists and whether I win a Grammy or applaud while someone else gets one, it's been an amazing couple of months. My heart is truly touched by all of my friends and well wishers who've posted kudos, called me, texted me and emailed congratulations. Thank you So much. I'm off into a Charlie Parker period for a minute, so you'll see and hear what that's about in April.