Born in Naples, Letizia Gambi is an Italian singer, songwriter and actress who has a wide-ranging education. She has studied dancing, acting, singing, painting and musical theater.
Letizia Gambi’s music is a crossover of her Neapolitan-Italian roots with the heritage of Black American Jazz. Her Mediterranean passion sings through Jazz's language in a contemporary, personal style. She has become well known for her English adaptations of classic Neapolitan pieces, as well as for her original compositions. She lives in Miami and she has a place in Milan.
Letizia began dancing lessons at age eleven, attended art school and began showcasing her art and winning awards for her paintings when she was only fourteen . At fifteen, she began traveling to London, in the summer, to study musical theater. Continuing to dance, she became a dance instructor and choreographer at a very young age, while continuing to sing and act. She studied acting for 2 years and worked as an actress. Finally, because of her great love and passion for music, she auditioned for the International Jazz Academy in Milan, out of 60 people who auditioned, she was one of only seven who was accepted into the program. She studied for four years and became an assistant to the vocal professor in her fifth, "Master Year.” Letizia graduated with a Masters Degree in Jazz Vocal Performance.
Letizia worked as a singer/songwriter, teaching Jazz and Pop singing at several music schools in Milan, Como and Switzerland. In Milan, she played Anita in West Side Story, she also acted in several TV shows. She sang with many well known Italian Jazz musicians and was the lead singer for a Jazz Big Band. Her versatility allowed her to sing many types of music, from Gospel (she was soloist in the choir of Civici Corsi di Jazz in Milan) to dance music, classical repertoire, pop and of course, Jazz.
In 2009, Letizia met the 4 times Grammy awarded drummer and producer Lenny White, and expressed to him her desire to fuse her roots and Neapolitan musical influences into a contemporary genre. In 2012 their collaboration resulted in her debut recording, "Introducing Letizia Gambi” which was recorded in New York and included such legendary musicians as Ron Carter, Chick Corea, Gato Barbieri, Wallace Roney, Patrice Rushen, Gil Goldstein, Antonio Faraò and her collaborator and producer, Lenny White.
In 2016 she released her second album "Blue Monday" that includes songs written by Letizia and Lenny White. It was recorded in New York and produced by Lenny White, the musicians who performed were Ron Cater, Gil Goldstein, Donald Vega, Dave Stryker, Helen Sung, John Benitez, Jisoo Ok,Hector Del Curto, and Pete Levin, .
Letizia performed as a guest with Lenny White and his band during his last European Tour, her American debut was at the Jazz Standard as a guest with Lenny White & friends, featuring Ron Carter on bass and Patrice Rushen on piano.
Letizia has represented Italy in Japan at the Italian Cultural Institutes in Osaka and Tokyo. In 2017 she performed with a 100 piece orchestra and choir, under the auspices of the Italian Consul General, for the celebration of the Italian Republic's Anniversary in Rosario, Argentina. The following year, she performed under the auspices of the Italian Consul General for the Italian Republic's Anniversary in Capodistria, Slovenia.
She has performed across Europe and throughout Italy including the Blue Note in Milan, Auditorium Parco della Musica and Casa del Jazz in Rome, the Blues Alley (Washington DC), Jazz Standard and The Cutting Room (New York).
Her original song Under the Moon was included in Musica Jazz Magazine’s cd tribute to Frank Sinatra for the centennial of his birth.
The American jazz magazine JAZZIZ included her Back to Black cover for the spring 2016 cd issue. Letizia is a voting member of the Recording Academy since 2012 and both her records were candidates for Grammy Awards as Best Vocal Jazz Album and Best Arrangements for Vocals.
Letizia has been nominated for the Italian Premio Tenco Award. She received the San Gennaro Award in 2016 given to an artist who serves as an effective ambassador for Neapolitan music and culture worldwide. Letizia is also the recipient of the We World Award for advancing women in the music business. She is a Recording Academy / Grammy voting member since 2012.
Letizia wrote lyrics and recorded a song with multi award winning pianist Fahir Atagoklu , "Come Musica" on the album "For Love" released in 2020.
Her newest band is Letizia Gambi in 3D, an all-women quintet, featuring Elisabetta Serio on piano, Giovanna Famulari on cello. The band made its debut on the International Jazz Day 2021, organised by the historic Blues Alley Club in Washington DC, under the patronage of the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington, the Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute, and UNESCO. The band is active and toured in 2022 and 2023.
In July 2023 Letizia performed in front of 5000 people, a sold out all-women show, Le Vesuviane, at Arena Flegrea (Naples), together with all female orchestra and other Italian female artists.
She has scheduled gigs in 2023 and 2024 including the historical Neapolitan Trianon Theater bill, where she will present for the first time her show “A Neapolitan in New York” based on her story and her music together with her all female band with singer/ actor Raiz as special guest.
She is also writing the libretto for Lenny White's symphonic Opera and working on her new album.
"Letizia Gambi is a stunning vocalist!”
STING
"...It was soooo nice to play with/for a singer that can really sing."
RON CARTER
"Lenny White and Letizia Gambi have created the hippest musical address in Naples; at the intersection of Neapolitan music and jazz."
GIL GOLDSTEIN
“Letizia is a new artist with an old soul. I’m always looking for new artists who have knowledge and respect of tradition but free spirited enough not to look at me crazy when I ask them to change it.Letizia Found me. She's really a human dynamo and the best student I ever had. Ladies and Gentlemen : Introducing Letizia Gambi!"
LENNY WHITE
“Introducing Letizia Gambi is one of those dramatic arrivals that challenges categories and assumptions. It's a longer way of saying simply that this album is indeed a rare thing – one that deserves to be heard and considered according to its own merits.”
ASHLEY KHAN
"Letizia Gambi is that rare talent, a charismatic singer emboldened to take ambitious risks…she casts a vocal spell that , while not exclusively jazz, is nonetheless wistful and enchanting"
DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE
"Killer stuff that sets a sure footed course to tomorrow, this is the future of jazz vocal right now, and it's bad to the bone. Killer stuff delivered from all present for the date, this is sure to blow your ears wide open."
MIDWEST RECORD
"This is a vocalist blessed with a sultry contralto, and is born with a talent to adorn words with ethereal beautiful inflections. There is fine use of dynamics and Gambi's approach is also to elegantly execute vocals without frills; just deeply felt emotions complemented with lilting loveliness. What a way to seal the human heart."
RAUL DA GAMA - LATINJAZZNET
E’ sempre la personalità a fare la differenza. Come nel caso di Letizia Gambi. L’album Blue Monday è un gioiello raro.
PAOLO GIORDANO - IL GIORNALE
