Gabrielle Stravelli Quartet

Co presented by East Branch Friends of the Arts and Upper Jay Art Center, vocalist and songwriter Gabrielle Stravelli blends musical traditions with a modern, genre-bending sensibility. The rhythmic swing of jazz frames Stravelli’s original compositions while as an actor and storyteller she reinterprets the Great American Songbook as well as works by contemporary artists as varied as Willie Nelson, Chick Corea, and John Fogerty. Unexpected, highly individual choices are her trademark.

Gabrielle has toured the United States with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing his masterwork Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration. She was chosen by world-renowned jazz pianist Fred Hersch to premiere his song cycle, Rooms of Light, at Montclair University PAC.

“Ms. Stravelli’s emotional intelligence coincides with a phenomenal voice that she wielded with an easygoing confidence and impeccable taste. Her clear, rounded timbre, reminiscent at times of Ella Fitzgerald’s, didn’t strain for effect. A formidable scat improviser, she held back enough so that I never felt that she was indulging in empty display. Her twirling of notes and phrases infused her performance with extra energy. She swings playfully, without seeming to try.”

— The New York Times