Pianist, composer and bandleader Paul Grabowsky is one of the major figures in Australian jazz.
His exceptional contribution to Australian music in general, and jazz in particular, have been recognised with various ARIA and Bell Awards, the Melbourne Prize for Music in 2007 and an Order of Australia.

He has produced strikingly original and imaginative music in every format from solo piano to trio, quintet, sextet, to large orchestra. And he has collaborated with many leading vocalists, including Shelley Scown, Vince Jones, Katie Noonan, Megan Washington, Christine Sullivan and Kate Ceberano.

Add the name ‘Virna Sanzone’ to that list. Virna has been regarded as one of Sydney’s finest jazz singers since she released her first album in 2005. She has performed with such artists as Jackie Orsczaczky, Steve Hunter, Matt McMahon, Gerard Masters and The Swinging Blades.

‘The Italian Project’ sees Paul and Virna in the company of two European expatriates, who now live in Melbourne : Mirko Guerrini (saxophone) and Niko Schauble (drums). They offer fascinating interpretations of traditional Italian and Sicilian folk songs, and more recent songs from Fellini and other modern Italian composers. Sanzone’s delivery of the lyrics often provides a dramatic contrast to the imaginative improvisations of her colleagues.

“The Italian Project…..allows the jazz-trained Sanzone to delve into her Italian heritage. She sang in both Italian and Sicilian dialects, her legato phrases gliding confidently over Grabowsky’s wildly diverse arrangements.

“Thee quartet evoked the changing of the seasons with a lilting waltz (on the folk song ‘La Pampina’), and the fear of betrayal (on a shadowy ‘Lla Ri’ Lli Ra’). The band grew increasingly boisterous as the set progressed, culminating in a playfully melodramatic cabaret-tango number (‘Si E Spento Il Sole’) that left the musicians breathless and the audience whooping with delight.” – The Age