Vanessa Racci: Italian Contributions to American Jazz

“A liquid voice laced with sass and swing!”
– Broadway World

Vanessa Racci

NY jazz vocalist and recording artist Vanessa Racci is coming to Annapolis to talk about Italian contributions to American jazz over the past 100 Years. She'll deliver one of the festival's popular library lectures on Saturday morning of Weekend Two. How did that come about?

 Last February, Annapolis Jazz & Roots Artistic Director Paulina Phillips was inspired while watching television coverage of the XXV Olympic Winter Games held in Italy, and the Muse hit her.

A big fan of Italian cuisine, Phillips often listens to opera compositions by Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni and Rossini while sipping her morning espresso. Despite her decades-long work presenting and promoting jazz, she had no idea of the important role Italian musicians have played in the development and popularity of the jazz genre. Along with many other culture vultures, she had assumed that Chick Corea was Spanish! It was time for some re-education – for her and other jazz fans.

Luckily, she learned that popular New York jazz vocalist and recording artist Vanessa Racci was sharing her passion for jazz history by offering fascinating programs in many American towns. Her focus is on Italian contributions to American jazz from 1917 to the present. With outstanding credentials, she comes highly recommended by the Sons of Italy chapters in Washington, D.C. and Annapolis (the latter being one of the largest organizations of its kind in the U.S.). The festival had found the perfect person to highlight Italian cultural contributions to American jazz.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Italian and Sicilians immigrated to New Orleans in droves and the socio-political environment for them was complicated. This new immigrant group interacted closely with African Americans, facing similar discrimination. Their unique position and use of European instruments would play a role in shaping early jazz, but there is much more to the story.

Racci will show and tell how Italian Americans from New Orleans have contributed to the genre from inception to modern times - from Nick LaRocca and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to Leon Roppolo and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in the 1920s to the Northern migration of jazz and beyond. Many jazz fans will be surprised to learn that Harry Warren was born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna. He contributed over 800 tunes to the great American Songbook! Listeners will learn of key musicians who are largely unknown today along with those whose work is widely celebrated, such as Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra and Chick Corea. 

Vanessa Racci has performed at such venues as Birdland and Gracie Mansion as well as the White Plains Jazz Festival and Scranton Jazz Festival. She has lectured at Rutgers University, The Generoso Pope Italian American Cultural Center and The Italian American Museum of NYC. She has been a recipient of the Helen Hayes Award, the Donna Distinta Award and the NOIAW Wise Woman Award. Audience members will be surprised at what they hear and leave feeling informed and satisfied with newfound knowledge and sense of appreciation.

Presentations like this one at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library have been enormously popular since year one of festival. Enjoy music, photography, some book learning and a lively discussion led by an ebullient, award-winning jazz artist. Bring your curiosity and your questions and come on out!

 

 

 

Visit Website