Press
2026:
“In an era where much of contemporary jazz vocalism leans toward polish, revivalism, or conceptual framing, Daphne Roubini arrives with something stranger, less easily categorized, and ultimately more intriguing…Whisky Scented Kissesdoes not simply revisit the past; it bends it, refracts it, and occasionally unsettles it.”
– Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move, France ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [Read full review]
“In a crowded field of vocal jazz releases, Whisky Scented Kisses earns its place easily. Roubini’s voice will grab you, the understated musicianship and Pigat’s arrangements make it as comfortable at a dinner party as it is under a pair of headphones”
–Tim Larsen, Jazz Views, UK [Read full review]
”This vocalist and her Black Gardenia group have capsulized old elegance and traditional jazz in a package of carefully picked repertoire and selective original music. Led by Daphne Roubini’s infectious vocals, this is a sound you won’t soon forget.”
–Dee Dee Mc Neil, Making a Scene, US [Read full article]
“…creates a mood that is reminiscent of those vintage early Billie Holiday sessions with Teddy Wilson and Lester Young-casual, intimate and irresistibly swinging with subtlety. Where’s she been hiding?” — ***Ringer of the week***
–George,W Harris, Jazz Weekly, US [Read full review]
“Fronted by stylish vocalist Daphne Roubini, Black Gardenia updates the vocal jazz sounds of the 1940s and 1950s with swinging heart.”
–Stuart Derdeyn, The Vancouver Sun, Canada [Pick of March 2026 concerts]
“Daphne Roubini's expressive, velvety vocals, perfectly embedded in classic jazz phrasing, with a natural sense of space and time and a remarkable subtlety of delivery, sustain the strength of her sound and style. Black Gardenia balances timeless vocal narrative with subtle, spacious arrangements, allowing each song to unfold with elegance and restraint.”
–Dionizy Piątkowski, Era Jazzu, Poland [Read full article]
”’Whisky Scented Kisses’ is a beautiful album, elegant, calm and delicate, that invites us to reflect.”
– José Ramon, La habitación del jazz, Spain [Read full article]
"While we can no longer hear new music from mid-20th-century jazz vocalists such as Billie Holiday, this album from Vancouver, Canada–based Daphne Roubini and her five-member band is the next best thing…-Jeff Burger, Americana Highways, US[Read full review]
“With Black Gardenia, one of the most recognizable ensembles on the Canadian scene, Roubini sings ‘Whiskey Scented Kisses’, a record that is in the wake of classic vocal jazz but carefully avoids the trap of sterile nostalgia. Here you can breathe the echo of the 40s and 50s. But it's not imitation. It's assimilation.”
– Jazz in the family, Italy [Read full article]
”Whisky Scented Kisses, … sounds like a 21st-century take on midcentury small-combo jazz, with Roubini’s smoky but smooth after-hours crooning"
–John Lucas, Stir Magazine, Canada [Read full -feature- article]
”Like the last note that lingers in the air of a half-empty room or the last sip of whiskey clinging to the base of the glass after last call, 'Whisky Scented Kisses' finds a way to leave its mark on you and at the same time burrows into the dichotomy of intimacy and isolation at the heart of jazz.”
–Imran Mirza, Blue in Green Radio, UK [Read full article]
A gritty, sultry voice… reviving vocal jazz with original compositions… a sound that lingers like the scent of a good whiskey.”
[Read full article]– Maxazine, Netherlands
”Beginning with the sublime, melancholic Minor Mood, the album brings Roubini’s mellifluous vocals together with an impressive ensemble.”
– Hilary Seabrook, UK music blog
“I don’t know what it is exactly but I am captivated when Roubini steps up to the microphone.”
— Cory Weeds,Cellar Music, Canada/US
“Evocative, retro yet cheekily modern.”
— Georgia Mancio, ReVoice! Festival, UK
“Roubini’s originals are indistinguishable among the stacked line-up.”
— Mike Usinger, Georgia Straight, Canada
“Daphne Roubini's original tunes bring to mind Django Reinhardt’s Gypsy Jazz with Billie Holiday as vocalist”.
— Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Sun, Canada
PAST Press->
VANCOUVER MAGAZINE
The humble ukulele may be small—both in size and, arguably, popularity—on the grand scale of musical instruments. But for the hundreds of students who attend Ruby’s Ukes ukulele school in downtown Vancouver, the four- string guitar with Hawaiian roots is a point of discovery and community; neophytes and experienced ukesters alike converge here daily to pluck, sing and strum the day’s worries away…Read More
THE SOURCE
Daphne Roubini of Black Gardenia brings her band’s blend of London jazz and Americana to Granville Island’s Canada Day celebrations, while John Welsh & Los Valientes share their combination World Music and Reggae at the Surrey Fusion Festival, and Iskwé aims to deliver a fully experiential trip-hop performance at the Vancouver Folk Festival…
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THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT
What’s in Your Fridge is where the Straight asks interesting Vancouverites about their life-changing concerts, favourite albums, and, most importantly, what’s sitting beside the Heinz ketchup in their custom-made Big Chill Retropolitan 20.6-cubic-foot refrigerators…Read More
VANCOUVER COURIER
Roubini is heading up the 10th incarnation of the Vancouver Ukulele Festival, March 22 to 24…
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REVIEW VANCOUVER
Vocalist, musician, school owner and teacher Daphne Roubini enjoys a hectic schedule and active lifestyle. Generally known has 'Ruby' by her students (myself included), she moved to Vancouver from her native London, England in 2004. Nine years ago she started up her own Ukulele school with only a dozen students. Now, Ruby’s Ukes Ukulele School, on Seymour Street in Vancouver, boasts around three hundred students per term…Read More
MONTECRISTO MAGAZINE
Daphne Roubini believes in magic. She’s seen it enough times to understand that there is something in her beloved ukulele that has the power to transform a life. And not just her own…Read More
NORTH SHORE NEWS
Her first ukulele was supposed to be a gift for a child, but Daphne Roubini just couldn’t keep her hands off it…Read More
UKULELE MAGAZINE
It’s an improbable tale. A self-described jazz-singing London girl immigrates to western Canada and in just over a decade, she’s the namesake of what may be the largest ukulele school in the world outside of Hawaii. Located in a vintage Gothic Revival building in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Ruby’s Ukes attracts an incredible 350 students each term. So, how did this 5’2″ dynamo, with no stringed-instrument experience and a voice reminiscent of the great Billie Holiday, take a $25 blue ukulele and create Ruby’s Ukes?…Read More
VANCOUVER SUN
Mining the music of an era that just keeps on delivering, Vancouver quintet Black Gardenia features the marvellously jazzy vocals of singer/ukulele ace Daphne Roubini and her life partner guitarist Andrew Smith leading an A-team of local players through less-familiar tunes from the canon by the likes of T-Bone Walker (I’m Just Waitin’ for Your Call) or Hoagy Carmichael and Ned Washington (The Nearness of You), as well as a few originals…Read More
NORTH SHORE NEWS
Old timey band Black Gardenia perform at West Vancouver’s Silk Purse Gallery on Saturday, June 17 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Jazz Waves series…
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GLOBE AND MAIL
As the founders of Ruby’s Ukes, the World’s largest Ukulele School outside Hawaii, they’re at the forefront of the new generation of performers. They will be performing an enchanting set, bringing their unique Ukulele magic to the York Theatre…Read More
UKULELE MAGAZINE
She’s Daphne Roubini, the one with the Billie Holiday voice, all breath and wistfulness. He’s Andrew Smith, the one picking ukulele behind her, alternating between strumming and single-string leads. Together, they’re Ruby & Smith, the heart of Vancouver’s Black Gardenia vintage- jazz band and the soul of Ruby’s Ukes, which bills itself as a “ukulele haven for the hip ukester” and “the world’s largest ukulele school outside Hawaii.” Read More
THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT
Coming exactly as advertised, A Ukulele Album is indeed centred around the instrument favoured by four out of five descendants of Hawaii’s King Kalākaua. But don’t expect the duo of Daphne Roubini and Andrew Smith to sound like the house band at the fabulous Royal Hawaiian on this low-key but charming full-length…Read More
“Daphne Roubini’s original tunes bring to mind Django Reinhardt’s Gypsy Jazz with Billie Holiday as vocalist.” - Vancouver Sun