NOIAW member and singer Vanessa Racci invites members and friends to her album release performance at the Birdland Jazz Club on June 4, 2017 at 6PM.

Vanessa Racci’s 2017 debut album, Italiana Fresca, heralds the breakthrough of a fresh sound in jazz: a sweet-and-sour, wide-ranging contralto with a passion born of her Italian-American heritage. On this recording, Vanessa puts a jazzy spin on the Italian songs she sang with her grandfather as a child; “Al Di La”, “Buona Sera”, “C’e La Luna”, “Return to Me” and the lot. The songs are re-invented with modern jazz arrangements ranging from jump swing to lush string ballads to Louisiana Street.