You’ve heard of piano-vocal duos and guitar-vocal duos. But what about trombone-vocal duos?

Vanessa Perea and husband Robert Edwards are trendsetting this unique instrumentation. They first showcased it on their album Home Life in 2021, which was a purely vocal and trombone album. Now their latest album, It Had To Be You, brings that same playful interaction — and adds guitarist Tony Davis and bassist Dylan Shamat.

Vanessa and Robert first met during their undergrad years at New Jersey City University. A move across the river into New York City proved fruitful to both of their careers. Calls were coming in and their schedules stayed busy. That is, until the pandemic hit. With nothing but time to kill, Vanessa and Robert started exploring the idea of playing with what they had — a voice and a trombone — and spent hours working out arrangements (much to the chagrin of their downstairs neighbors). When social distancing restrictions were lifted, they were happy to add a few more band members to their project. It Had To Be You is a delightful offering of musicians pushing the boundaries of traditional instrumentation.

Listen to this Bite-Size Jazz episode featuring Vanessa Perea to get to know a vocalist with a style all her own. She talks about learning to coordinate vocal-trombone performing, the process of recording the album, and her musical background.

Resources:

Learn more about Vanessa Perea on her website, Instagram, or Facebook. You can find It Had To Be You anywhere you stream music. It's also available for purchase on Amazon Music or Bandcamp.

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