Winter Jazz Series: Vanessa Racci Trio

Vanessa Racci is a jazz and cabaret singer of Italian-American descent with a passion for retro jazz and music made famous by Italian-Americans.
She has produced an album and currently performs several shows that celebrate American jazz composers, Italian American music and their contributions to jazz and pop in the US. Growing up with her Southern Italian grandfather in New York, Vanessa learned Italian-American classics and jazz at an early age, hearing Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Frank Sinatra and the like played throughout the house. She developed as a singer in musical theater (starring in professional theater at age 12), discovered her love for jazz in her 20’s and started touring with a trio.

After her grandfather passed away, Vanessa was inspired to reinvent the Italian classics that he taught her with modern jazz arrangements to keep the music alive for future generations. She teamed up with Gianni Valenti of Birdland Jazz Club, producer, David Finck, and Manhattan Transfer arranger, Yaron Gershovsky, to realize her vision. The result was a sold-out album release show at Birdland in June 2017 and a unique album, Italiana Fresca, that reached #65 on the jazz charts. Since then, she has performed at over 70 festivals, events and jazz clubs across the country and has been played on over 20 Italian radio stations across the US and Italy.

Vanessa Racci is a jazz and cabaret singer of Italian-American descent with a passion for retro jazz and music made famous by Italian-Americans.
She has produced an album and currently performs several shows that celebrate American jazz composers, Italian American music and their contributions to jazz and pop in the US. Growing up with her Southern Italian grandfather in New York, Vanessa learned Italian-American classics and jazz at an early age, hearing Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Frank Sinatra and the like played throughout the house. She developed as a singer in musical theater (starring in professional theater at age 12), discovered her love for jazz in her 20’s and started touring with a trio.

After her grandfather passed away, Vanessa was inspired to reinvent the Italian classics that he taught her with modern jazz arrangements to keep the music alive for future generations. She teamed up with Gianni Valenti of Birdland Jazz Club, producer, David Finck, and Manhattan Transfer arranger, Yaron Gershovsky, to realize her vision. The result was a sold-out album release show at Birdland in June 2017 and a unique album, Italiana Fresca, that reached #65 on the jazz charts. Since then, she has performed at over 70 festivals, events and jazz clubs across the country and has been played on over 20 Italian radio stations across the US and Italy.