Of course, just about everything at Mark Morganelli’s Jazz Forum in Tarrytown swings. He’s been promoting jazz both in Westchester and New York City for decades. I plan to make a habit of stopping by to see the jazz singers he promotes. Roseanna Vitro has been part of his shows since the early 1980s, soon after she relocated to New York from her native Hot Springs, Arkansas. She’d originally wanted to be a blues singer, but lacked a distinctive scream. her idols back then were Lightning Hopkins, Johnny Winter, Bonnie Raitt and Tracy Nelson. I love that she recorded Boz Scaggs’ “I’ll be Long Gone,” which Nelson recorded.

Roseanna Vitro, vocals, performed with Tim Horner, drums, Allen Farnum, piano, and Dean Johnson, bass. (Jim Motavalli photo)

But it was jazz that clicked. Maybe it had something to do with Vitro rooming with the great pianist Fred Hersch when she came to New York. It’s plain she has big ears, and finds good songs wherever they live. Here she is on video, performing the late Kenny Rankin’s “In the Name of Love.” Rankin moved back and forth between pop and jazz his whole life, but took to singing standards, as Vitro does, late in life.

It was a nice gig, celebrating Valentine’s Day, in part because of strong support. Pianist Allen Farnum was on fire, and Dean Johnson (bass) and Tim Horner (drums) more than kept up with him. The standards included “But Beautiful” and, a personal favorite, “Crazy, He Calls Me.” A card on our table offered special cocktails for Valentine’s Day, and also the lyrics to “Crazy, He Calls Me.” The Sigman/Russell song goes back to 1949, and was memorably recorded that year by Billie Holiday. Here’s a bit of the lyrics:

“I say I’ll move the mountains/And I’ll move the mountains/f he wants them out of the way/Crazy he calls me/Sure, I’m crazy/Crazy in love, I say.”