Biography

Born Roseanna Elizabeth Vitro in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...

 on February 28, 1951, Vitro began singing at an early age, drawing inspiration from various musical genres like gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

, rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, and R&B

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

, theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

, and classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

. Her father owned a night club in Hot Springs, Arkansas in the '50s called The Flamingo. He loved Dean Martin's music and opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, and her mother's family sang gospel

Gospel

A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

. By the 1960s, she was determined to be a rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 singer. She was exposed to jazz and it became her genre of choice after moving to Houston, TX in the 1970s. Ray Sullenger discovered Roseanna and presented her to the Houston Jazz Community where she studied with voice coach, Ray Sullenger and sang frequently with tenor great, Arnett Cobb. Vitro worked for two years in Houston's Green Room with her group "Roseanna with Strings and Things" hosting a radio show on KUHF-Fm, which featured guests like Arnett Cobb

Arnett Cobb

Arnett Cobb was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Cobb was born Arnette Cleophus Cobbs in Houston, Texas. His musical career began with the local bands of Chester Boone, from 1934 to 1936, and Milt Larkin, from 1936 to 1942...

. Many jazz greats stopped in and played with Strings and Things, such as Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...

, Bill Evans

Bill Evans

William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...

, Tommy Flanagan

Tommy Flanagan

Thomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald...

 and Keeter Betts. While in Houston, she performed many times with saxophonist Arnett Cobb, who, along with Sullenger and pianist Oscar Peterson, encouraged her to dedicate herself to jazz. In 1978 she moved to New York City with guitarist Scott Hardy and began to study with Gabore Carelli, a professor from the Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan School of Music

The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...

 and started performing with Kenny Werner and Fred Hersch. She also sat in with and ultimately toured with Lionel Hampton. In New York, she appeared at all the major jazz clubs including The Blue Note, Iridium, Birdland, and Dizzy's Jazz Club at Lincoln Center. She also appeared with Steve Allen

Steve Allen

Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...

 at New York's The Town Hall

The Town Hall

The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...

 and recorded an album of Mr.Allen's original compositions (Seabreeze label,"The Time of My Life"). In 2005 she performed and recorded live with Kenny Werner at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Throughout her career she has collaborated with musicians such as Kenny Werner

Kenny Werner

Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Kenny Werner is a world-class pianist and composer. His prolific output of compositions, recordings and publications continue to impact audiences around the world....

, Christian McBride

Christian McBride

Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist. His father, Lee Smith, and his great uncle, Howard Cooper, are well known Philadelphia bassists who served as McBride's early mentors...

, Elvin Jones

Elvin Jones

Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....

, Gary Bartz

Gary Bartz

Gary Bartz is an American alto and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist.Bartz graduated from the Baltimore City College high school and The Juilliard School...

, Kevin Mahogany

Kevin Mahogany

Kevin Mahogany is an American jazz vocalist who became prominent in the 1990s. He is known for his scat singing, and his singing style has been compared with jazz singers Joe Williams and Johnny Hartman....

 and David "Fathead" Newman, all of whom have appeared on her recordings. Vitro is an active performer, touring throughout the United States and abroad. She has been broadcast on WBGO-FM

WBGO

WBGO is a public radio station broadcasting from Newark, New Jersey. The station primarily plays jazz music. In addition the station airs public affairs programming, locally-produced newscasts, traffic reports from Metro Traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours, and NPR-produced newscasts...

 (Newark, New Jersey) and on National Public Radio' Marian McPartland's Program. She has recorded twelve critically acclaimed cds and toured throughout the United States to support substantial airplay in all major markets. 2011 Motéma.com recording: The Music of Randy Newman has received 4 1/2 stars in Downbeat Magazine. Randy Newman is quoted as saying: "Roseanna is a Great Artist".

In addition to being a critically acclaimed performer and recording artist, Vitro is a teacher and clinician. She has taught Vocal Jazz at State University of New York at Purchase

State University of New York at Purchase

Purchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...

 and currently holds a teaching post at New Jersey City University and The New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She holds frequent workshops, clinics, and master classes. She herself has studied classical voice, ear-training, classical Indian vocal technique, Portuguese language, piano, and jazz technique and concept.

Vitro has never avoided politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

, and in 2011, she released an album of Randy Newman

Randy Newman

Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....

 jazz arrangements. She frequently performs music outside the standard repertoire.

Discography

• Listen Here (Skyline, 1985)
• A Quiet Place (Skyline, 1987)
• Reaching For The Moon (Chase Music, 1991)
• Softly (Concord Jazz, 1994)
• Passion Dance (Telarc, 1996)
• Catchin’ Some Rays: The Music Of Ray Charles (Telarc, 1997)
• The Time Of My Life: Roseanna Vitro Sings The Songs Of Steve Allen 1986 recording (Sea Breeze, 1999)
• Conviction: Thoughts Of Bill Evans (A, 2001)
• Tropical Postcards (Challenge, 2004)
• Live At The Kennedy Centre (Challenge, 2006)
• The Delirium Blues Project (Half Note, 2008)
• The Music of Randy Newman
  Randy Newman
  Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
  
   (Motéma Music
  Motéma Music
  Motéma Music is an American record label focused on jazz and world music, as well as other creative projects by virtuosic musicians who also compose. It was founded by Jana Herzen in 2003, and is now based in Harlem, New York City...
  
  , 2010)

Awards and Honors

• Inducted into Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame 1998, with Bob Dorough and John Stubblefield.
• Selected as a "U.S. Jazz Ambassador" in 2004 for The John F. Kennedy Center & The U.S. State Department and The "Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad" featured artist in 2009 with her band JazzIAm. "Rhythm Road" (formerly known as "Jazz Ambassadors") is a program administered by Jazz at Lincoln Center for the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.