Ada Rovatti

Italian native Ada Rovatti started playing saxophone in high school after years of classical piano training.

After winning a scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Italy she divided herself between Boston where she studied with Joe Viola, George Garzone and Fred Lipsius and Italy where she was regular working in Big Band with guest artists such as: Phil Woods, Lee Konitz and many more.

After spending one year in Paris touring Europe and Africa she moved in New York City. She has performed in important festivals such as JVC in NYC Rochester Jazz Festival, IAJE, Detroit Jazz Fest, Montreal Jazz Fest, San Francisco Jazz Fest, NorthSea Jazz Fest and a regular on the JazzCruise, appearing and performing with an impressive and diverse list of artists and bands such as: Mike Stern, John McLaughlin, Anne Ducros, Bob Mintzer, Victor Bailey, Joanne Brackeen, Tony Levin, John McLaughlin , James Moody, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath, Patti Austin, Joe Bonamassa and many others.

In 2003 she released her first 2 CDs as a bandleader with the Elephunk Band and with her quartet with guests: Randy Brecker, Mike Stern and Don Alias.

Ada was part of 2 Grammy winning CDs by Randy Brecker –“34 th N Lex” and “Rocks” with NDR Big Band along with David Sanborn, and on the acclaimed CD of John McLaughlin “Industrial Zen” and also appeared in the movie ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ featuring Julia Roberts

As a band leader she has released 6 CDs: Ada Rovatti & The Elephunk Band, Under The Hat, Airbop, Green Factor, Disguise and Brecker Plays Rovatti -Sacred Bond.

She has toured with the Brecker Brothers Band Reunion with whom she recorded a live double DVD/CD from the Bluenote Jazz Club in NYC.

In 2021 she was invited as a guest to perform with the WDR Big Band of Cologne, Germany in a special concert titled “4 tenors” along with Bob Mintzer, Bob Malach and Paul Heller.

In the last couple years she has been extendedly touring and recording for various artists, arranging and producing and working on her new upcoming project to be release in January 2024 introducing her also as songwriter and string orchestrator with special guests Niki Haris, Kurt Elling and many more.

Gear

PMauriat Saxophone Raphael Navarro Mouthpiece Vandoren ZZ Reeds

John Ambrosini: Songs for You

Read "Songs for You" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
October 5, 2024

John Ambrosini is a New York City-based pianist, composer and arranger. He has a number of recordings to his credit and this one, strictly speaking, is a bit of a departure. Ambrosini's band is populated by a number of well-known jazz professionals in and around the city. So the music swings and the solos--including piano--are all worth hearing. It may be that Ambrosini is a stronger player than singer, something not unusual among instrumentalists who sing. ...

Album Review

Ada Rovatti: The Hidden World Of Piloo

Read "The Hidden World Of Piloo" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
September 14, 2024

Ada Rovatti's intriguingly titled album, The Hidden World of Piloo, has a tale attached (and a tail). Piloo is an affectionate name Rovatti's father has called her since childhood, after a “naughty" cat in a favorite children's book. She adopted it for her label as well (Piloo Records). Rovatti grew up in Mortara, Italy, outside of Milan, in an unusual household. Her mother was a semi-pro softball player and her dad a geologist, professional hunter and purveyor of cars. The ...

Album Review

Jill McCarron Trio: Gin

by Jack Bowers
April 8, 2024

Gin, pianist Jill McCarron says of the title of her second recording as leader of the Jill McCarron Trio, refers to the card game of that name, and not to the alcoholic beverage. She balances the joy of winning with the luck of the draw in her entrancing three-part suite. While McCarron leads an admirable threesome (Paul Gill, bass; Andy Watson, drums), this is a trio album with an asterisk, as saxophonist Vincent Herring sits in on four numbers (including ...

Album Review

Luiz Millan: Brazilian Match

Read "Brazilian Match" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
September 20, 2023

Brazilian Match is a tour-de-force of classic and contemporary Brazilian music written by and featuring singer-songwriter Luiz Millan. Millan's fifth album is a leader is his first for Jazz Station Records and Brazilian jazz impresario Arnaldo DeSouteiro, whose storied history includes working with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eumir Deodato, Dom Um Romão, João Donato, and other legends, and who called Millan “a composer's composer." “A great melodist who also happens to be a great poet, a fabulous storyteller; a ...

Album Review

Albare & Co.: Freedom

by Jack Bowers
October 2, 2022

"Jazz is the voice of freedom," says Israeli-born guitarist & composer Albare, “and it will never be silenced." To that end, Albare has assembled a world-class sextet to perform seven of his sunny, swing-based compositions, two others co-written with pianist Phil Turcio and Turcio's graceful “Shimmozle." The session begins, appropriately enough, with Albare's open-hearted “Freedom," which introduces fellow front-liner Randy Brecker on trumpet. Soprano saxophonist Ada Rovatti (who also plays splendid alto and tenor saxophones) makes her ...

Album Review

Arthur White and Merge: Unify

by Jim Worsley
October 4, 2021

A man of many hats, tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator Arthur White needed a sombrero gigante to both shade the bright southern California sunshine and to embrace the enormity of his latest big band project. Students, faculty and graduates from Cal Poly accounted for the largest portion of this thirty piece band, with faculty members from Cuesta College also on board. This bevy of youthful vitality was integrated with the experienced and multi-talented chops of Randy Brecker and Ada ...

SoCal Jazz

Ada Rovatti: Big Sax, Big Heart, Big Shoes

by Jim Worsley
November 25, 2020

From a small town in Italy to bright lights around the world, saxophonist Ada Rovatti boldly stepped into the big shoes of the late and legendary saxophonist Michael Brecker several years ago. She didn't fill them. No one could. Instead she has snugged up inside them and found her own way of expressing Brecker's music. Married to Michael's brother, the great trumpeter Randy Brecker, the emphasis has been on the Brecker Brothers' music. That is only a part of her ...

Interview

Interview: Ada Rovatti

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 13, 2024

Saxophonist Ada Rovatti and trumpeter Randy Brecker have been wife and husband since 2001. The pair met in 1996 when Randy traveled to Italy to perform with a local jazz band there. Ada was responsible for bringing him the music and talking him through how the concert would roll. As she told me below, it was love at first sight. Now, Ada has a new album out, her seventh: The Hidden World of Piloo. Ada wrote the words and music ...
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Recording

Husband & Wife Team of Randy Brecker and Ada Rovatti Join Forces on New CD Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond

Source: hubtone PR
October 29, 2019

Here’s a saying that ‘the family that plays together, stays together.’ That old adage is put into effect on Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond, which not only features the husband and wife team of Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and fusion pioneer Randy Brecker and saxophonist-composer Ada Rovatti but also includes their 10-year-old daughter Stella in a vocal cameo appearance on one track. Backed by a versatile core group of pianist David Kikoski, bassist Alex Claffy and drummer Rodney Holmes, with guest ...
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Recording

Ada Rovatti CD Release: "Green Factor"

Source: All About Jazz
February 27, 2009

Green Factor is a unique recording with a melting pot of Irish, Celtic, jazz and fusion influences with strong harmonies and sophisticated arrangements. Green Factor Tracks: The Kerry Dance The Green Factor Oh Corko Mio I Lost My Wisdom Oh Danny Boy The Untold Story Somewhere Over The Rainbow Wild Colonial Boy Peter Pan Your Highness Personnel: Ada Rovatti: tenor and soprano saxophones, Christian Howes: violin, George Colligan: piano & Fender Rhodes, Janek Gwizdala: electric bass, Obed Calvaire: Drums. Special ...
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“…Rovatti’s warm-toned confidence must surely light up the stage whenever she is in town. Magical.” --All About Jazz