Ada Montellanico is one of the most important and innovative authors and singers on the Italian jazz scene. She has collaborated with internationally renowned artists including Jimmy Cobb, Lee Konitz, Paul McCandless, Enrico Pieranunzi, Enrico Rava, Fabrizio Bosso, and Danilo Rea, participating with critical and public success in numerous prestigious Italian and foreign festivals. An extraordinary performer with a warm, sandy voice and a great researcher of unusual and original repertoires, she has found a magical fusion between the Italian language, jazz, and improvisation like no other. A fundamental milestone in her career is 1996, when she recorded "L'altro Tenco" with Enrico Rava. The profound sensitivity with which she reinterprets the lesser-known repertoire of the Piedmontese singer-songwriter in a new key reveals a particular ability to make her intimate emotional world adhere to the requirements of the narrative. Her quest to unite our most sophisticated singer-songwriter tradition with the African-American language led to other important recordings such as *Ma l'amore no* (1997) and *Danza di una ninfa*, released for Egea in 2005 together with Enrico Pieranunzi. This represents a true recording event due to the uniqueness and novelty of containing four unreleased lyrics by Tenco, set to music for the first time by Montellanico and Pieranunzi himself, by kind permission of the Tenco family. In 2006, she published the book *Quasi sera. Una storia di Tenco*, a musical biography of the singer-songwriter, through Stampa Alternativa. The originality, competence, and sensitivity with which the woman and singer approaches the life of the man and artist Tenco made this book a true sales success, followed by numerous accolades from specialized critics as well. In 2008, two other important recordings were released: *Il sole di un ufficio*, in which the Roman artist appears not only as an extraordinary performer but also as an original and sensitive composer. In the same year, she was the protagonist of the prestigious "Jazz Italiano 2008" series by *L'Espresso* magazine, with an unreleased "live" recording of her "Homage to Billie Holiday." Both the concerts related to this project and the CD, reprinted and distributed again on newsstands in August 2016, garnered strong public and critical acclaim. In 2012, the CD *Suono di donna* was released for Incipit/Egea, a transversal project in which she pays homage to female composers. On this occasion, Ada presented herself with a completely renewed ensemble, a sort of brass band with original sounds, featuring the participation and arrangements of the great trumpeter Giovanni Falzone. In January 2017, *Abbey's Road* was released again for Incipit Records, a passionate homage to a legendary artist like Abbey Lincoln. An album of great maturity in which Ada tackles songs belonging to Lincoln's most committed repertoire, such as those linked to the fight for civil rights. On this occasion, too, she chose an atypical formation for a voice—that is, without harmonic instruments. She continued her artistic partnership with Falzone, who collaborated again in the dual role of trumpeter and arranger. Joining the ensemble were young talents Filippo Vignato on trombone, Matteo Bortone on double bass, and Ermanno Baron on drums. The project received an extraordinary reception from the public and critics and was hosted by numerous important Italian jazz festivals. She is currently a professor of jazz singing at the L. Perosi Conservatory in Campobasso. She founded and held the prestigious role of President of MIDJ, the National Association of Jazz Musicians, and the association Il Jazz Va a Scuola. She served as Vice President of the Superior Council for Entertainment for three years. She is currently President of the Italian Jazz Federation, an organization of great national importance previously presided over by Paolo Fresu.