Vanessa Tagliabue Yorke

Enrico Rava says of her, "Vanessa. An extraordinary artist. Painter, sculptor, composer, and above all, a singer with a unique voice capable of touching us directly to the heart. Her expressiveness and ability to convey her emotions are extremely rare qualities that make her a great performer."

In 2012, Vanessa Tagliabue was the sole international guest at the American festival "A Tribute to Bix" in Wisconsin (USA), performing a series of concerts with Dalton Ridenhour (piano, New York) and Andy Schumm (cornet, Chicago). This collaboration resulted in the album "Racine Connection," released by Rivermont Records (Indiana, USA) in 2012 thanks to record producer Bryan Wright.

In 2012 Vanessa began an intense collaboration with Mauro Ottolini's Sousaphonix, recording four albums: “Bix Factor”, “Music for a Carefree Society Vol. 1”, “Music for a Carefree Society Vol. 2” for Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome in 2015 and “Buster Kluster” for Azzurra Music 2016.

In 2015, Vanessa recorded "Contradanza" for Abeat Records, an experimental album influenced by free jazz and rock. This debut album in Italy received outstanding reviews in leading national newspapers and magazines for the high quality of its artistic research, technical execution, and musical content. Contradanza was born from Vanessa's collaboration with Ethan Uslan, an American pianist and three-time winner of the "World Championship Old Time Piano Playing" in Peoria (IL, USA), Mauro Ottolini, Giovanni Maier, Vincenzo Vasi, Dario Buccino, Gaetano Alfonsi, Enrico Terragnoli, and Mauro Costantini.

In 2016, Stefano Amerio's Artesuono label released the album "We Like it Hot," featuring a quartet with Paolo Birro, Francesco Bearzatti, and Mauro Ottolini. In 2017, Marco Rossi's Azzurra Music released “Nocturnes,” dedicated to twentieth-century French music and the voice of Edith Piaf, in which Vanessa collaborated with Paolo Birro on piano and Andrea Bettini.

In 2017, the Tenco Club, in collaboration with Enrico De Angelis, invited Vanessa as a soloist to perform Francesco Guccini's songs with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra during the Tenco Club's festival dedicated to Guccini, during which Carmen Consoli, Roberto Vecchioni, and John de Leo also performed. Curated by Enrico De Angelis, the album "Fra la via Aurelia e il west" was released for Ala Bianca Records, in which Vanessa personally reinterpreted songs by Francesco Guccini with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vince Tempera. Vanessa, Carmen Consoli, Roberto Vecchioni, John de Leo, Cristina Donà, Bocephus King, Pacifico, and Leonardo Pieraccioni sang on the album.

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Luigi Tenco's death, the Tenco Club, in collaboration with RAI and broadcast live on RAI 5, invited Vanessa Tagliabue Yorke as a soloist to perform some of Tenco's songs alongside Morgan, Noemi, Roy Paci, and Marina Rei, among others, with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra conducted and arranged by Mauro Ottolini. This subsequently led to Mauro Ottolini's album "Tenco come ti vedo gli altri" (Tenco as they see others), released on Azzurra Music in 2018. Vanessa performed as a soloist on three of Tenco's songs, along with other guests including Gino Paoli, Daniele Silvestri, Alberto Fortis, Petra Magoni, and Vincenzo Vasi.

On July 30, 2020, "Storyville Story" was released by Mauro Ottolini and Fabrizio Bosso's Parco della Musica Records. Vanessa is the lead vocalist, interpreting and reinterpreting the music of early 20th-century New Orleans alongside Paolo Birro, Glauco Benedetti, and Paolo Mappa.

In 2020, Stefano Amerio's Artesuono released the album "Diverso Lontano Incomprensibile," featuring Francesco Bearzatti on clarinet and saxophone, Michele Rabbia on drums and percussion, Giovanni Maier on double bass, Salvatore Maiore on cello and double bass, Paolo Birro on piano, Enrico Terragnoli on electric guitar, and a string quartet.
The album explores Eastern and Middle Eastern influences, blending them with the aesthetic lens of 20th-century French spectral music. The arrangements are by Vanessa Tagliabue Yorke, and the original songs are by Vanessa Tagliabue Yorke. The album was reviewed by Chris May on All About Jazz and was called “Beautiful, seductive and superbly well-crafted, an example of what is called Art Music”

In 2022 Azzurra Music released “The Princess Theatre”, a duo album with jazz pianist Paolo Birro, which features Fabrizio Bosso on trumpet on the original compositions featured on the album and who also collaborated as the author of the song “Aedh wishes for the clothes of Heaven”. The album was reviewed by Alex Dutilh on Radio France - France Musique where Vanessa was defined as “The voice that counts in the Italian Jazz scene”.

In 2024, after participating with her quartet at Umbria Jazz 50th Anniversary, playing in the Sua Podiani of the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, she was invited to the Blue Note Milano with the quartet "We Like It Hot!" That same year, she released three albums: Live at Umbria Jazz 50th Anniversary, featuring a quartet with Giulio Scaramella, Francesco Bearzatti, and Mauro Ottolini; Princess of the Night, featuring a quartet with Giulio Scaramella, Francesco Bearzatti, and the addition of Salvatore Maiore on cello and strings; and Pop Shield, featuring guests Giulio Corini on double bass and Paolo Mappa on drums.

Enrico Rava invited Vanessa to join the Fearless Five for four live shows at the Blue Note Milano on February 7 and 8, 2025. For the occasion, pieces by Enrico Rava will be performed, some with original lyrics by Vanessa, and an unreleased song composed by Enrico Rava that has not yet been released.