Jazz Songbird on High, in the Right Place

Something’s happening here, to paraphrase Stephen Stills, what it is ain’t exactly clear. But we’re getting at least a teasing suspicion that the grand and elegant jazz club experiment, The Grand on State, is heading in the right and upward direction. That impression was solidified last week, when the formidable and graceful jazz vocalist Roberta Gambarini — in tandem with similarly formidable pianist Tamir Hendelman — kicked off the young club’s “visiting artist” series. It was a heady thing to be a part of, in that welcoming and, on this night, SRO room.

Thus far in its formative history (the official grand opening was just in May), the club, co-run by pianist-accordionist Brian Mann and his wife, Jenna Berg, has mostly showcased musicians from the 805 who are worth hearing. One anomaly was the short-notice booking of Tom Scott and Roger Kellaway, back in late May. But now, it’s official.

This was the night of the expanding mandate.

As Gambarini told the room, “I’m very happy to be the first of the musicians to play in what I can tell will be one of the best music places in Southern California.” Fingers crossed. 

Gambarini, born in Turin, Italy, in 1964, is a jazz singer in the proudly mainstream mode, whose nimble yet tastefully deployed vocal work has inspired comparisons to such royalty as Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan. She is a New Yorker whose Italian accent is only detectable when she speaks; her English diction, like the precision and crispness of her musical delivery, is better than that of many an American singer. 

Gambarini has been a toast of the jazz vocal world, working with her mentor James Moody and trumpeter Roy Hargrove from early on in her time in the States. News of this “new kid in town” sensation hit the broader ear thanks to her 2006 album Easy to Love (hear it here), which she is.

At The Grand on State, the crowd got a bit of her story and her musical biases through song and a carefully curated set list, with the ever-eloquent Hendelman — who she first met in 2001 — meeting her at every turn and phrase. 

She opened on a grace note, with a gentle appetizer of “Where Is Love?” sung a cappella and softly. Over the course of the two-set night, Gambarini managed to give a fairly complete portrait of the artist, in all her diversity. We quickly got a taste of her superlative scatting abilities, which have helped earn her Ella-esque accolades, spinning out serpentine riffs on the affirmative tune by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, “Theme for the Eulipions” (his self-coined term for artistic “agents of change”).

Later scatting flights sparked up a brisk tempo take on “Lover. Where Can You Be” and the energized closer, “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.” But she glowed on balladic turf, as well, with Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way,” Johnny Mandel’s “A Time for Love” and especially on Billy Strayhorn’s majestic “Lush Life,” which she recorded with the late, great pianist Hank Jones (link).

She shifted linguistic gears, with ease, into the Portuguese patios of Brazilian tunes “Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)” and Jobim’s proto-bossa “O Grande Amor.” An Italian connection, once removed, arrived during the first encore, “nuevo tango” king Astor Piazzolla’s languidly lovely “Oblivion” — originally penned for the soundtrack of Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s Henry IV.

Through the night, the fairly impeccable Hendelman demonstrated winning restraint and music-appropriate listening skills, sparsely executing virtuosic phraseologies without sacrificing taste. A deep musicality courses through what he does and where he opts to go on his instrument. The same can be said of Gambarini, an old school jazz master in the best and most timeless sense.

In recent years, Gambarini has pulled back from the public profile of her recording career, and slipped a bit away from the spotlight, partly for personal reasons and pandemic pressures. But as she explained after the gig, she is gearing up to make up for lost time, with forthcoming recordings — on the German In & Out label — featuring her quartet, another big-band project, and an upcoming collab with longtime Piazzolla sideman Pablo Ziegler. 

In short, the world will be hearing more of Gambarini soon, and with luck, an encore at The Grand on State will be in the works. She and this room get along famously, already. You heard it here.