I don’t know what you’re looking for in a jazz singer, but if you’re left cold by introspective chanteuses, and your blood vessels flow with the swing and style of Ella Fitzgerald, you need look no further than Roberta Gambarini. The lady was born in Italy, but weaned on the milk of all that is good about jazz vocals, as she gave a thrilling and exciting 1 ½ hour set at Catalina’s Thursday night that epitomized the essence of that intangible thing called swing.
Opening a cappella, she transfixed the audience with a riveting and alluring “So In Love” before letting her trio of Eric Gunnison/p, Chuck Berghofer/b and Willie Jones III/dr pop the clutch and go into overdrive on “Nobody Else But Me” and a Dizzy-ing take of “Sunny Side of the Street” that had her leap 3 octaves at a single bound. Her “Porgy & Bess” medley with Gunnison’s graceful musings had her treat the Gershwin pieces like the arias they were meant to be.
Up to the stage comes UCLA professor (and leader of over 100 albums in his own right) Kenny Burrell, delivering a to tapping “Killer Joe” before teaming up with Gambarini for a take of “Just Squeeze Me” that skipped like a stone on Lake Superior. The two sizzled back and forth like onions and peppers on a humid “No More Blues” while their lonely duet on “Lush Life” had the vocalist capture the agonizing ennui like no other interpreter. Berghofer’s irresistible bass like lead into a hip and bluesy “This Masquerade” that had Gambarini agonizing punctuating the tormented lyrics as they descended down the lonely path to despair. Keeping in the bel canto mood, her desultory interpretation of “Good Morning Heartache” had her ring out the lyrics like water from an old rag.
Jones kicked the mood into a more assertive mood by snapping his drums under “Day In, Day Out” which Gamberini skated over like Dorothy Hamill. Burrell wowed the audience with a delightful medley of all things Ellington before the two joined back for a take of “Estate” that was as hot and steamy as a night on Via Nazionale in Naples. Closing by scatting through a frenetic “Lester Leaps In,” Gambarini, like all great Italian cooks, showed that trust in the basic ingredients of swing, style and craft make for a perfect musical meal, with extra flavorings and gimmicks merely show that, just like a Pizza Napolitano, anything else would simply detract. This lady is the Vera Cosa!