Swiss chanteuse Tatiana Eva-Marie brought enchanting French Gypsy Jazz to Arizona Thursday, as part of the opening season of a unique new concert venue. La Rosa is a renovated former Benedictine church in Tucson, with fantastic acoustics and a warm, inviting environment.
Tatiana was backed up, as usual, by members of her phenomenal Avalon Jazz Band — Dion Berardo, guitar; Julian Smith, string bass; and a guest violinist all the way from Korea (via New York), Seoyeon Im.
There was a brief technical glitch with Tatiana’s microphone at the outset — La Rosa, being a new venue, is undoubtedly still working out a few kinks. A consummate professional, she handled it with grace and a bit of humor, and the problem was quickly rectified. The musicians never missed a beat.
The evening opened with Swing 39 — one of several Django Reinhardt pieces to which Tatiana has added lyrics. Many Jazz favorites followed, including C’est si bon, La Vie en rose, Nuages, and a particularly touching rendition of this author’s all-time favorite French song — Que reste-t-il de nos amours. There was the always fun to hear Sheikh of Araby, and an amusing new application of Tatiana’s lyrics to Django in Le tigre de Django. There was also the particularly interesting Troublant boléro, a song about gypsy seduction and heartbreak, sung in Romani.
Tatiana Eva-Marie Tickets and Tour Dates
Tatiana and her musicians have good chemistry and plenty of light-hearted moments. There was even one moment where she seemingly alluded to some backstory with Dion’s guitar which seemed to slightly embarrass him — now we want to know!
It’s always a joy seeing Tatiana Eva-Marie, and this evening did not disappoint.
