There’s a lot of singing going on this week. Tonight, for example, singer Jamie Cullum is at Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) and vocalist Roberta Gambarini is at Dazzle. And on Wednesday, the musical week ends with bassist/singer Esperanza Spaulding at JAS and guitarist/singer Lionel Loueke at the Summer of Jazz series in Glenwood Springs. In between, Smokey Robinson sings at JAS and only trumpeter Chris Botti breaks the vocal streak at the festival in Aspen on Friday (though Botti has a long association with vocalists).

          Let’s start with an Aspen rundown. The festival takes place in the Benedict Music Tent and it begins this evening at 8:30 p.m. with the British-born Cullum who is just about to turn 30. The singer/pianist has found a great deal of crossover success with his jazz-influenced renditions of standards put across with a solid dose of showmanship.

          The sounds continue on Friday with Botti whose Chet Baker-styled playing has attracted a lot of attention. To use the just the latest example, his concert at Boston’s Symphony Hall with the Boston Pop’s Orchestra conducted by Keith Lockhart and a host of guests vocalists from Sting (with whom the trumpeter toured and recorded) and Steve Tyler to John Mayer and Josh Groban is hard to miss wherever you turn, including turning on public television.

           On the pop side, in addition to Sting, the trumpeter spent five years with Paul Simon and did session work for a wide range of folks. While Botti has done some things close to smooth jazz, he also has straight-ahead jazz chops. After all, when he moved to New York, the trumpeter played with trumpeter Woody Shaw and saxophonist George Coleman. Also, his core band on the In Boston disc on Verve has Billy Childs on piano, Mark Whitfield on guitar Robert Hurst on bass and Billy Kilson on drums.  

          Then on Saturday, it’s Robinson in the tent. Born in Detroit, Robinson was one of the miracles of the Motown era and his songs carry no expiration date. What else need be said? His performance, like all the JAS events, start at 8:30 p.m. Tickets for each of the three shows are $50-$80 (866-527-8499).

          Four days later, there’s another JAS event, though on a smaller scale, when Spaulding’s trio plays at a different Aspen venue, Belly Up, 450 S. Galena, at 8 p.m. I heard the young bassist’s trio at Mount Vernon Country Club and I must say that I’d take her music over anything coming from the headliners in the big tent ($25, 970-544-9800).

          On the same night that Spaulding is doing Belly Up guitarist Loueke is doing the Wednesday evening, free event in Glenwood Springs at 7 p.m. in Two Rivers Park. Like Spaulding, Loueke, originally from Benin, sings along with his playing and offers sounds that are both different and enormously attractive. Thanks to Mount Vernon Country Club, I also had a chance to hear his trio and it provided one memorable night of music. Quite rightly, both Loueke and Spaulding topped the list of rising-star players on their respective instruments in this past year’s Down Beat “Critics Poll.”      

          Speaking of memorable music, that’s exactly what Gambarini provides. In 1998, Gambarini moved from her home in Italy to the U.S. to study at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music. Right after she settled down in America, the singer from Torino came in third in the Thelonious Monk Institute’s international vocal competition. And that was no fluke. After all, her first CD Easy to Love received a Grammy nomination. In 2008, she followed up with a duo disc with the great pianist Hank Jones titled You Are There.

          For the last two years, the Down Beat poll named Gambarini as the rising-star female vocalist. She has clearly moved way ahead of the pack of singers out and has done that with a straight-ahead ease that is extremely refreshing. She performs at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, tonight and Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. ($25/$20 for the second show, 303-839-5100). On Saturday, pianist Ralph Sharon is at Dazzle with his trio also at 7 and 9 p.m. Sharon doesn’t sing, but there are few people around who know more about singing than this player who spent four decades with Tony Bennett.

Sunday is dad's day and you can give him a treat at the Shadow Theater, 1468 Dayton St. in Aurora, when singer James Van Buren presents tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson. In 1954, Johnson arrived in Los Angeles and became a highly regarded studio-session musician on a wide range of recordings. Beyond his "Pink Panther" side, Johnson is a swinging, full-bodied and bluesy player. The Sunday event starts with a reception at 5 p.m. followed by the music at 6 p.m. ($25/$30 at door, 720-857-8000).

The author can be contacted at Normanprovizer@aol.com.

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