Lizz Wright

"Music lives in that place where anything can be picked up. It can become a different statement in someone else's hands than in my hands. The fact that it can be passed from hand to hand is something beautiful, almost spiritual. It means different things in different places, and I approached this record as if there is no history. I was just a voice, and I loved it."

—Lizz Wright

With her latest album, Dreaming Wide Awake, Lizz has simultaneously delivered a record with "no history" and yet one that embraces the history of jazz, gospel, rhythm- and-blues and the singer-songwriter tradition. It is a record where Lizz Wright's voice and vision seamlessly marry songs once performed by Neil Young, Fats Waller, The Beatles, Madonna and Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass to self-penned originals and her collaborations with some of today's most gifted songwriters to create one of the most strikingly original albums of the year.

For the new album, Lizz chose to work with Craig Street, a producer famous for his work with a broad palette of singers (Cassandra Wilson, k.d. lang, Me'Shell NdegéOcello) to shape an incredibly personal album that Lizz feels best reflects who she is right now: "When I first met Craig, he asked me what I liked to listen to and I said I really like stuff like Jeff Buckley, Damien Rice and Sarah McLachlan. I love songs that create moments. At the same time I had this dilemma where I've been trained to sing gospel, choral music and a little bit of opera and was very used to being technical. But I wanted to make the move away from those styles."

The twelve songs that create moments on Dreaming Wide Awake range from Lizz's self-penned title track to The Youngbloods' Summer of Love anthem "Get Together," from her co-writes "Hit the Ground" and "Trouble" to the 1960's pop smash "A Taste of Honey" and from originals by Marc Anthony Thompson (a.k.a. "Chocolate Genius") to Neil Young's classic "Old Man."

The middle child of a minister from rural Georgia, Lizz took the music world by storm in 2003 with breakout performances at Billie Holiday tributes in Chicago and Los Angeles and with her debut album Salt (Verve), where her rich gospel-trained contralto soared amidst a soulful R&B-meets-jazz setting. The New York Times' Stephen Holden was moved to call her "a young singer and songwriter of astonishing maturity and poise" and write that "in her debut album and on the stage, Ms. Wright delivers spun gold . stir(ring) jazz, gospel, and rhythm-and-blues into a reflective, flowing style that elongates songs into prayerful meditations that never wander into vagueness. Pitch-perfect, with a smoky, full- bodied texture . impressive in its steadiness, control and rhythmic subtlety."

A different sort of taxicab confession describes Lizz's inspiration for her follow-up album Dreaming Wide Awake: "I was in a Green and White cab in Atlanta going down Peach Street Hill when I heard Sarah McLachlan's 'Angel.' It was an incredible moment. I realized that was the kind of thing that I really wanted to do." Building on, and breaking away from, the musical vocabulary she had established, Lizz reached for a new instrument - the guitar: "For Salt I had written all my songs on the piano. But when I heard this idea in my head, I grabbed the guitar, made up some chords and just kept singing;" that song became "Trouble" - the first song she learned how to play on the instrument and her first original composition for this album. "Hit the Ground," another original heard here, was started with chords she picked up while learning to play "Amazing Grace" on the guitar, and finished in collaboration with two of today's premier songwriters - Jesse Harris and Toshi Reagon. Lizz's evolving sound and skills as a songwriter are marked by her move to the re-launched Verve Forecast label, an imprint focused on great music outside the jazz genre and original home to such seminal singer-songwriters as Laura Nyro, Tim Hardin, and Richie Havens.

Dreaming Wide Awake opens with acoustic guitar and understated hand drums on "A Taste of Honey;" the sixties pop staple gets a stripped-down swamp-blues treatment, recasting it miles away from its confectionary origins and giving the song a gravity heretofore not explored. One of the album's great delights is to hear familiar songs re-born in Wright's hands. The gentle standard "I'm Confessin" reveals a vulnerable side to Wright not seen on the last album; the nursery sing-along "Wake Up, Little Sparrow" from "The First Lady of Children's Music" Ella Jenkins becomes a cautionary lullaby, while "Get Together" and "Old Man" are reaffirmed as being as a relevant today as they were in generations past.

Indeed, Dreaming Wide Awake seems a wholly appropriate title for an artist's continued awakening to the many facets which make her a singular talent: "Sometimes we do things and realize the wisdom of what happened later, after doing it," says Wright; "That's what happened with this record. Naturally I'd wanted to take a step further or a notch up. But I'm learning that deep inside myself, beyond the echoes of other peoples' expectations and thoughts about who I am and what I do, I really like simplicity and I am a very mellow person. This project helped me to be okay with expressing that." Show less

Lizz Wright: Shadow

by Chris May
April 19, 2024

The singer Lizz Wright made a brief stopover in London in March 2024, on a tour previewing Shadow. She appeared for one night only at Cadogan Hall, a 900-seat auditorium big enough when full to feel buzzy but small enough still to remain close to intimate. It was a perfect setting for Wright and her characteristically à la carte programme of jazz, gospel, blues and folk music from multiple traditions. Shadow is an exquisitely crafted, low-key production ...

Live Review

Lizz Wright at Yoshi's Oakland

by Walter Atkins
July 16, 2022

Lizz Wright Yoshi's Oakland Oakland CA June 29, 2022 The accomplished vocalist and songwriter Lizz Wright introduced an exceptional blend of gospel, folk and jazz genres to an exuberant assembly at Yoshi's. Wright, accompanied by pianist Kenny Banks, gracefully took the stage to a full house in one of the San Francisco Bay Area's favorite music and restaurant venues. In witness to her talent, people ventured out on this Wednesday night to listen and savor ...

Album Review

Various Artists: Ella 100 Live at the Apollo

Read "Ella 100 Live at the Apollo" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
April 26, 2020

To be taken back in time within the scope of a period piece movie has long been a staple. Some journeys feel much more real than others, but the concept is commonplace. Venturing into the past with only the audio of a CD or record is, as they might have said back in 1934, “a whole different kettle of fish." A live audience first laid eyes and ears on this 100th birthday celebration honoring the sensational Ella Fitzgerald (born on ...

Album Review

Lizz Wright: Grace

by James Nadal
August 5, 2017

In reaffirming the adage that you can go home again, Lizz Wright did just that. The songs on Grace reflect a homecoming to the singer's southern heritage--a personal rite of passage to glean inspiration and redefine her musical origins. She revisits her rural Georgia upbringing and Atlanta gospel roots, and finds comfort at her current home in Asheville, North Carolina. Having had an enduring taste of fame and success, she articulates the need for humanity, direly absent in times like ...

Album Review

Lizz Wright: Freedom & Surrender

Read "Freedom & Surrender" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
October 11, 2015

Few musicians, that have been commercially successful and artistically praised, have, at the height of their popularity, decided to take a hiatus to discover themselves. Renowned expressive vocalist Lizz Wright, did just that, and guided by a warrior spirit, propelled her music into a renewed direction on Freedom and Surrender. After a string of acclaimed records for the Verve label, and a number of guest side projects, Wright signed with Concord Music Group, savoring the opportunity to create music on ...

184

Working Out to Jazz

The Top 5 Workout Tracks For November

by Chris Lawhorn
November 2, 2010

[Editor's Note: Working Out to Jazz is a new All About Jazz column, devoted to providing jazz playlists for the purpose of working out. For his third installment, Chris Lawhorn's emphasis is on largely up-tempo tracks from a handful of recent releases. Check in with Working Out to Jazz regularly, for new workout music suggestions, as Chris breaks it out for you by Beats Per Minute (BPM).] For the coming month, I've tried to find the best, up-tempo ...

169

Live Review

Lizz Wright at House of Blues in Cleveland

by Matt Marshall
June 30, 2008

Lizz Wright House of Blues Cleveland, Ohio June 5, 2008

The strains of swamp organ accompanied, seeming to guide, Lizz Wright onto the tight stage of the House of Blue's small, mood-lit Cambridge Room. Her movement was fluid, unhurried. When she settled behind the microphone, she rooted there like a willow in soft dirt.

Throughout the opening “Trouble"--and, indeed, throughout the evening--her arms stretched from her body like wispy limbs from a spiritual ...

Event

Lizz Wright And Savion Glover Light Up Ellington At Christmas

Source: Christine Saunders
November 28, 2013

AN ELLIGINTON CHRISTMAS: THE ELLINGTON NUTCRACKER A joyful holiday salute to the Duke’s “Nutcracker Suite” and “Sacred Music,” featuring tap master Savion Glover and the Dance Theater of Harlem School 48 member Arts High Advanced Choir will perform with the David Berger Jazz Orchestra Sunday, December 8th, 4:00pm NJPAC’s Prudential Hall NJPAC is proud to welcome Newark’s own virtuosic tap dancer Savion Glover for a special holiday presentation featuring the music of Duke Ellington on Sunday, December 8 ...
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Performance / Tour

An Evening with Lizz Wright Thursday, April 8 at Boston's Wilbur Theatre

Source: Sue Auclair Promotions
April 1, 2010

An Evening with Lizz Wright

One of The Jazz World's Most Celebrated Rising Stars Heads to Boston

Boston, MA--Jazz at The Wilbur will present “An Evening With Lizz Wright" on Thursday, April 8, at 7:30 PM at the Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116. The Yoko Miwa Trio will open the show. Tickets at $38 and $30 are on sale now at all Ticketmaster outlets, at the Wilbur Theatre Box Office, on line at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling: ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz at the Wilbur Presents: An Evening with Lizz Wright

Source: Sue Auclair Promotions
March 8, 2010

JAZZ AT THE WILBUR Singer Lizz Wright In Concert at The Wilbur Theatre Thursday, April 8, 7:30 pm Yoko Miwa Trio To Open One of The Jazz World's Most Celebrated Rising Stars Heads to Boston Boston, MA--Jazz at The Wilbur will present “An Evening With Lizz Wright" on Thursday, April 8, at 7:30 PM at the Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116. The Yoko Miwa Trio will open the show. Tickets at ...
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359

Performance / Tour

The Town Hall Presents Lizz Wright & Richard Bona Friday, April 9th at 8PM

Source: Michael Ricci
February 25, 2010

The Town Hall (123 W. 43rd St.), Times Square's landmark concert venue, is pleased to present Lizz Wright and Richard Bona on Friday April 9 at 8:00PM. Tickets are on sale now for $50 and $45 through Ticketmaster, 212-307-4100 or www.ticketmaster.com, or by visiting The Town Hall Box Office at 123 West 43rd Street, 212-840-2824. Southern singer-songwriter Lizz Wright's distinct mixture of jazz, folk, gospel and R&B has earned favorable comparisons to Anita Baker, Regina Belle, Cassandra Wilson and Tracy ...
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207

Performance / Tour

Philadelphia Jazz at the Kimmel Center in October: Lizz Wright and Danilo Perez Trio Pay Tribute to Billie Holiday; Christian McBride and Friends; and Melody Gardot

Source: Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
September 25, 2009

Philadelphia has a long history as a vibrant and pulsating jazz community. This October, the Kimmel Center turns the spotlight on Philadelphia-born jazz luminaries who continue to evolve America’s indigenous art form. Philly’s own bass virtuoso Christian McBride celebrates the 20th anniversary of his musical work in a performance with Grammy® Award-winning pianist Bruce Hornsby, his new quintet Inside Straight and other special guests (Friday, October 16, 2009).

Rising star vocalist Melody Gardot performs works from her critically acclaimed sophomore ...
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362

Performance / Tour

Sing the Truth: Nina Simone Remembered: Barbican Concert Featuring Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright and More

Source: All About Jazz
June 12, 2009

Thursday 16 July 7.30pm Sing The Truth: Nina Simone Remembered featuring Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright, Angelique Kidjo and Simone Tickets 20/25/30/35 Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious Part of Blaze A singer of unique emotional effect, Nina Simones passing left a huge gap in the music world. This tribute, by some of the greatest female singers alive, will go some way towards giving those too young to have seen Nina a taste of the power and drama of ...
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137

Performance / Tour

Lizz Wright and Raul Midon Double Billed at JVC

Source: Michael Ricci
June 21, 2008

Faith From the South, and a One-Man Band The New York Society for Ethical Culture

If I had to choose a single word to describe the mystique of the singer Lizz Wright, it would be steadfast.

Ms. Wright, who headlined a double bill with the equally talented singer-songwriter Raul Midon at the concert hall of the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Thursday evening, is a minister's daughter from a small town in rural Georgia. Her recent ...
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101

Video / DVD

Official Music Video for "My Heart" from Lizz Wright's New Album, the Orchard | Lizz Wright | Video

Source: All About Jazz
February 26, 2008

117

Recording

Bringing It All Back Home | Lizz Wright | News

Source: All About Jazz
February 23, 2008

Singer Lizz Wright Tries to Keep Things Simple on Her New Album By ROBERT J. HUGHES February 22, 2008; Page W2

Jazz vocalist Lizz Wright decided it was time to return to her roots. For her new CD, she tried to capture the simplicity of the blues and gospel music she heard growing up in the rural town of Hahira, Ga. The daughter of a minister, she sang in church ...
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101

Recording

The Orchard by Lizz Wright

Source: All About Jazz
January 7, 2008

The largely self-penned The Orchard finds Wright mining her own experience to create an unmistakably personal musical statement. The warmth and resonance of Wright's gospel-trained contralto is matched by the intimacy and authority of such original compositions as “Coming Home," “My Heart," “Another Angel" and “When I Fall." Wright's interpretive skills are equally impressive on revelatory readings of the Ike and Tina Turner classic “I Idolize You," Sweet Honey in the Rock's “Hey Mann," the Led ...
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