Photos: Franco Ambrosetti's VOICES Album Released on Enja

Franco Ambrosetti's latest project, Voices, will be released on November 27, 2026 on Enja (9882 2 / LC 18386). The album pairs the Swiss jazz icon's flugelhorn with a five-voice choir fronted by Janis Siegel, formerly of The Manhattan Transfer, in what is being described as Ambrosetti's mellowest offering to date.

There is something unmistakably nostalgic about Franco Ambrosetti's latest project, Voices. The mellow tones of his warm flugelhorn blending with a five-voice choir recruited by singer Janis Siegel may indeed harken back to an earlier era of lush vocal jazz recordings by The Hi-Lo's, The Singers Unlimited and The Swingle Singers. But it's the intricate and highly interactive arrangements of Franco's frequent collaborator Alan Broadbent that also brings a novel edge to the proceedings.

The Swiss jazz icon, who turned 84 during the making of Voices, recalled that his early infatuation with vocal jazz began with groups like The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshmen and the original French incarnation of The Swingle Singers, all of which he first heard while growing up in Italian-speaking Lugano, located in the southern most canton of Switzerland. It was around that same time, as a teenager in the late '50s, that he also first encountered the bossa novas of Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Franco pays a heartfelt homage to both profound influences on Voices.

Credit Broadbent with arranging the five voices that caress Franco's warm-toned flugelhorn on meditative tracks like Jobim's dreamy 'Dindi,' Michel Legrand's plaintive waltz-time 'Once Upon a Summertime' (with English lyrics by Johnny Mercer), and Sergio Mendes' wistful 'So Many Stars' (with English lyrics by the prolific team of Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman). And credit Siegel with assembling the stellar vocal talents of soprano Aubrey Johnson, second alto Carolyn Leonhart, tenor Kevin Osborne and baritone-bass Trist Curless in tackling Broadbent's ambitious arrangements. Far more than just providing background sweetening, this accomplished choir plays a key role on Voices.

As Broadbent noted, 'I like my charts to go somewhere, so that they just don't sort of sit there but rather they're actually moving towards some sort of epiphany. Whether it's with string players or voices, I like them to participate in the action, because then the music benefits from those inter-reactions between us all.'

That kind of precision interplay is particularly evident on the challenging, Bachian counterpoint that bookends 'Once Upon a Summertime' and also on Ambrosetti's beautiful 'Desert Rose,' the sole a cappella showcase of the album. The five voices also rise to the fore on 'Five Notes,' Ambrosetti's playful bossa flavored original featuring a sizzling solo from special guest guitarist John Scofield, a frequently collaborator of Ambrosetti's going back to the trumpeter's celebrated 1987 Enja album, Movies. Scofield also demonstrates a nuanced touch on the alluring bossa 'Dindi' and he brings an element of swing on a mid-tempo rendition of Miles Davis' 'Four,' which kicks off Voices in effervescent fashion.

Said Broadbent, 'John's solos are so beautiful! It almost brings me to tears. And it's more than just chops. When he solos, that's somebody's ears and heart that are speaking.'

Ambrosetti's son Gianluca Ambrosetti, who played soprano sax on eight of his father's previous outings, makes a guest appearance on a soothing rendition of Jerome Kern's 'I'm Old Fashioned,' a beloved standard that showcases some close father-son exchanges near the end. While Franco's takes on beguiling bossas like Jobim's 'Dindi,' Mendes' 'So Many Stars' and Nelson Motta's 'Vida Real (Dejame Ir)' may reflect his ongoing love of Brazilian music, the inclusion of 'Four' at the outset of the program speaks of his enduring love of Miles Davis.

'From listening to Miles, I learned about stretching a note when you play a melody,' he said. 'Instead of playing the notes shorter or staccato, you stretch the notes out like you're really singing. And I think I can express my feelings more if I really cry that note.'

That kind of deep feeling is imbued in every note that Franco plays on Voices.

Personnel

Franco Ambrosetti - Flugelhorn, trumpet

Alan Broadbent - piano, arranger, conductor

John Scofield - guitar on tracks #2, #7, #9

Scott Colley - bass

Peter Erskine - drums

Gianluca Ambrosetti - soprano sax on track #6

Aubrey Johnson - soprano

Janis Siegel - alto 1

Carolyn Leonhart - alto 2

Kevin Osborne - tenor

Trist Curless - baritone-bass

Jeff Levenson - producer

Tracklist

1. Four [5:43] (Miles Davis, Jon Hendricks; Jazz Horn Music/MPL, ASCAP)

2. Five Notes [6:27] (Franco Ambrosetti, Alan Broadbent; Broadbent Music, ASCAP)

3. Once Upon A Summertime [5:35] (Michel Legrand, Eddy Marnay, Johnny Mercer; Warner Chappell Music, EMI Music, ASCAP)

4. So Many Stars [7:54] (Sergio Mendez, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman; WB Music Corp, Spirit Two Music Inc, ASCAP)

5. Desert Rose [2:54] (Franco Ambrosetti, Georgia Mancio; PRS/MCPS)

6. I'm Old Fashioned [4:58] (Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer; Universal Polygram International Inc, J. Mercer Foundation, ASCAP)

7. Dindi [5:27] (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Aloysia de Oliveira; Corcovado Music Corp, ASCAP)

8. Vida Real [4:18] (Nelson Motta, Georgia Mancio; PRS/MCPS)

9. Waltz For Debby [7:47] (Bill Evans, Gene Lees; Universal Music Group, TRO-Hampshire House, ASCAP)

Production Credits

Produced by Jeff Levenson

Executive producer: Silli Ambrosetti

Recorded and mixed by Jim Anderson, Anderson Audio New York; Studio L, Brooklyn, New York

Assistant Engineers: Maximilian Troppe (NY), Ugo Bongianni (Lugano)

Editing and Assistant Mixing Engineer: Ulrike Schwarz

Mastered by Steve Fallone, Sterling Sound; Assisted by Greg Calbi

Recorded: Oct 20-25, 2025, Sear Sound, New York; Nov 3-5, PDU Productions, Massimiliano Pani, Mina, Lugano, Switzerland

www.francoambrosetti.com

Photo Credit: Peter Erskine, Jim Anderson, Joseph Vella