Vocalist/songwriter Lizz Wright is bringing her sweet music to the Bay Area.
9/18 Dizzy's Den stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival at 8:30pm
9/19-20 Yoshi's Oakland - Shows at 8 and 10pm
Photo Credit: James Knox
Recently in Lizz Wright Category
Special Note
The concert webcast will begin at 12:30pm PT/2:30pm CT/3:30pm ET today.
Webcast link: http://www.fabchannel.com/lizz_wright_concert
Press release
Amsterdam/London October 28th 2008
LIZZ WRIGHT IN EXCLUSIVE CONCERT WEBCAST
Free video webcast of the accomplished American songwriter
Tune in tomorrow night for a musical journey with Jazz singer Lizz Wright live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam. Online concert channel www.fabchannel.com brings viewers across the world Wright’s magnetic performance with a live webcast from their website. The webcast will start at 19.30 (GMT).
In just a few days after the live webcast the entire recording will be included to Fabchannel’s online video archive. So should you some how miss the live webcast, you will still be able to watch the show later on in the archive.
Fabchannel weekly webcasts and records concerts at the Paradiso and Melkweg in Amsterdam and is home to the most extensive concert video archive on the web. The Fabchannel video archive includes over 900 full-length concert recordings, including the likes of Brand New Heavies, Solomon Burke, Stereophonics, Grayson Capps, Paul Weller, James Hunter, Southside Johnny, Eric Roberson, and Bettye Lavette.
About Lizz Wright
Lizz Wright, born January 22nd 1980, is an American jazz singer. Being a daughter of a minister, Lizz Wright predominantly grew up with gospel music. In High School, where Lizz Wright was nationally awarded for her singing talent, she became more interested in jazz and blues music. In 2002 Verve Records discovered the talented singer and there she released her mix of soul, jazz and pop music.
She made a name quickly in the jazz scene when releasing ‘Salt’, her first album, in 2003. Her debut immediately got her favorable comparisons to Tracy Chapman and Anita Baker. In 2005, follow-up album, ‘Dreaming Wide Awake’ was released. Her success and popularity grew and Wright toured the world soon after.
In 2008 her third album ‘The Orchard’, was released and featured more slow soul and rhythm & blues songs than her previous work. It’s a milestone for Lizz Wright herself. "This record was a huge learning experience, in every way, and I think it showed me a lot about myself," she states
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For more information, don’t hesitate to contact:
Charlotte Raffo
Fabchannel – Amsterdam, Holland
Press and Publicity
T: +31 (0)20 - 788 27 02
publicity@fabchannel.com
www.fabchannel.com
By the time I post this entry, you will have bought your tickets already. Or you may be like me and trying to decide how many times you will see her during this run. It has been about 3 years since I have seen Lizz Wright in concert. She is at Yoshi's this week promoting her new Verve release, The Orchard, which hit the stores on 2/26. I have listened to it a couple of times and like what I have heard so far. I am most happy that she gets to sing the music that she enjoys. Stop back soon for a review of her concert and the new album.
Photo Credit: James Knox
From WGBO:
Many musicians have been influenced by the slow, delicate sounds of Shirley Horn. Before her recent passing, artists including Regina Carter, Stefon Harris and Lizz Wright came together to pay tribute to Horn in a special concert from the Kennedy Center. We bring you this concert TONIGHT in this evening’s broadcast of JazzSet with DeeDee Bridgewater, beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST. Click here for more.
Photos capturing the many music moods and beauty of Lizz Wright as she played the San Jose Jazz Festival last summer.
Lizz Wright - vocals
Deanna Witkowski - keyboards
Carlos Henderson - bass
Mark Collenberg - drums
This was a very fun concert as I was dividing my time between listening to her wonderful music and sitting on the steps of the stage taking photos. Her set included "Open Your Eyes", a magnificent reading of "Afro Blue", and the soul-stirring "Walk With Me." Her rendition of "Nature Boy" has become a favorite of mine. Carlos opened the song with nice bass solo, Deanna jammed on the Rhodes, Mark came in on the drums, and Lizz just brought out all together beautifully. She soared on "Eagle & Me" and the wind rose at the Wright moment when she sang "Eternity" and "Blue Rose." Her voice had a way of summoning a cool breeze on a hot August afternoon. She was gracious, shy, and beautiful as always. Each time I see her in concert, she seems freer in her music as walks further in the light. Every lyric has a new meaning as she brought a hush over the crowd as she sung "Home." "Salt" had some new seasoning and "Silence" was reverent. Just when we thought it was the end of her set, she came back and sang "Lead The Way" and "Fire." She also included "Nothing Will Be As It Was", a Milton Nascimento composition.
Hot music on a hot summer day!
Have you gotten the new Lizz Wright album, Dreaming Wide Awake, yet? It is wonderful and I promise to share my thoughts soon. Lizz will playing at The Independent in SF on Tuesday, August 16. Verve Records is running a contest on her website, www.lizzwright.net, to win tickets to this event.
From the San Jose Mercury News:
Slated for Aug. 5-8, the nation's biggest free jazz festival is once again bringing in hundreds of top musicians for a long weekend of music. Among this summer's headliners are tenor saxophone legend James Moody, trombonist Steve Turre, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, young singing star Lizz Wright and three of the Latin jazz world's best percussionist-band leaders: Ray Barretto, Bobby Sanabria and Pete Escovedo.
"We're really trying for a very balanced festival of straight-ahead jazz with the liveliness that the Latin side brings,'' says Steve Saperstein, general director of the San Jose Jazz Society, which runs the event. "It's a real good blend of the Latin influence in jazz and the jazz influence in Latin, without stooping to commercialism and forsaking the art. It's a combination of the accessible and the artistic.''
The music begins Aug. 5 with a pricey opening-night gala and concert at Santana Row, with the San Jose Jazz Orchestra, featuring singers Kim Nalley and Jamie Davis, and a trio led by young pianist Taylor Eigsti, raised on the Peninsula and now gathering a national following. (The Thursday gala is the weekend's only paid event).
Then the festival unfolds Friday, Saturday and Sunday on seven downtown stages, mostly outdoors, with the smells of barbecue and grilled catfish wafting in the air and spicing the performances.
As always, there will be jazz, blues and salsa and Latin sounds. A youth stage will feature talented young players from Bay Area schools and jazz programs.
Lizz Wright - Vocals
Nicholas Rolfe - Piano/Fender Rhodes
Carlos Henderson - Bass
Mark Collenberg - Drums
The lyrics are so essential to the song. They convey emotion and tells us a story from the singer's perspective. Extraordinarily gifted vocalist/songwriter Lizz Wright brings the lyrics to life. She brings them from her heart and conveys them through her rich contralto voice and her graceful movements. Just watching her perform the past two nights at Yoshi's has been a magical and spiritual experience.
I have had the pleasure of seeing Lizz twice in concert before these two special evenings. She moved and swayed me at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2002 and the Cerritos Center in 2003. It is wonderful to watch her grow in her musical journey. She is more comfortable and engaging with her audience. She is freer in her music yet there is still a wonderful innocence about her. Her phrasing is even sharper and her endings are smoother. She can take you to far away places and leave you wanting more. You can hear the gentle winds and the ocean breezes and see the beautiful fields of flowers and peaceful sunsets in her song.
She opened her evening with an up-tempo arrangement of "Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly," then floated over to the melodic coolness and chants of "Afro Blue." Next, she set our souls on fire with "Walk With Me, Lord" which featured Nicholas Rolfe on Fender Rhodes. "Blue Rose" was fragrant as she took us deeper into her soul. Her interpretation of the classic ballad "Nature Boy" has always been a favorite of mine. This evening it got funkier as Carlos Henderson set the tone with soulful groove on the bass, then Lizz took us from a simmer to a sizzle. Nicholas brought on the funk on the Fender Rhodes (even interspersing a little bit of The Stylistics "People Make the World Go Round" in his solo) and Mark Collenberg threw in a soulful beat on the drums. Lizz came back in and brought it all back down to a simmer as she told us "the greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return." She flowed gracefully through "Eternity", soared effortlessly on her gospel/soulful interpretation of "The Eagle and Me", and closed out the evening with "Silence." The audience loved her and let her know with loud applause and standing ovations. She came back out and gave us a flavorful rendition of "Salt" and sent us home seasoned with her music and beauty.
Lizz has a new band that has been with her since November 2003. I hope they will be recording with her when she goes back into the studio this year for they compliment each other so well.
By the way, today she celebrates her 24th birthday! Happy Birthday Lizz! If you have not done so already, don't forget to pickup some Salt.
Were you there last night? Did you experience the magic of her beauty and sensual voice? Did she quench your musical thirst with her power and sultriness. Well, if you were not there, you definitely missed a great show but wait, all is not lost. Lizz Wright will be performing at 8 and 10pm tonight at Yoshi's. The audiences loved her last night and we even saw people coming out of the 8pm show running to get in line for the 10pm show. See you there!
A review will follow after I go see her captivate the room again tonight with a spirit of tranquility, painting the room with magnificent colors and hues with each of her notes. Okay, I better stop before I run out of words for my review.
Lizz Wright's video of "Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly" directed by Spike Lee
Extraordinary vocalist Lizz Wright will be making her Bay Area debut on January 20 & 21 @ Yoshi's for two shows each night. If you have not had a chance to see her live, you do not want to miss these shows. Tickets for the 8pm shows are $14 and $10 for the 10pm shows. You really can't beat these prices so let's give her a great big Bay Area welcome and sell out all the shows. I will be at the 10pm shows each night.
Hey New York City!! You can see Lizz at the Blue Note, January 6-11.
