Lizz Wright

It all began in a small church in rural Georgia, there where her father wielded the pastor's staff of a vibrant congregation and Lizz Wright was choir director. There She became familiar with antiphonal gospel singing and the Great Songbook , which, there to shortly, became to part of his musical heritage. On the other hand, good music was not lacking to the Wright home.

Text by Alceste Ayroldi

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From jazz to soul, blues to R&B, Lizz's sphere of musical knowledge was being enriched day by day. And it is Billie Holiday to enter to be a ...part, from from early on, of Our Lady's artistic and vocal chords, so much so that to twenty-two years old she made herself known even beyond the church belt, to national level, with a memorable tribute concert to the Philadelphia singer. And the culture assimilated in Georgia is overpoweringly felt in Lizz Wright's music, in her voice, in her being both seraphic and strong as a rock.
She treasures her father's teachings, in all likelihood, because when Lizz talks about her music, she uses terms that are certainly not commercial, such as nurturing, healing, a service that the artist offers to the audience. And so she sees the role of the artist, especially in this unfortunate moment in history, as a mission: the artist must be a bearer of peace, of positivity.
Multifaceted, both musically and character-wise, so much so from that she can also bear the title of chef, which she carries with equal honor and pride to that of musician. First, she graduated from Dr. Annemarie Colbin's Natural Gourmet Institute in New York; second, she put from immediately into practice her newly acquired knowledge and natural skills, starting Carver 47 Food & Wellness Market (C47) on Chicago's South Side, whose name betrays its goals: healthy cuisine and, predominantly, inspired by the culinary traditions of the U.S. South. The restaurant is housed inside the elegant Little Black Pearl Art & Design Academy (North Kenwood, Chicago) founded by innovative Chicago business leader and designer Monica Haslip, Wright's wife. The name Carver 47 is a tribute to agronomist Dr. George Washington Carver.

But Lizz Wright's entrepreneurial enterprise does not stop there, for in June 2022 her record label Blues & Greens Records was officially born, debuting by delivering for posterity the album that immortalizes the concert held by the founder herself to Berlin in 2018: Holding Space, produced from Monica Haslip and Lynne Earls. An album that symbolizes many things for Lizz and was born from a deep reflection on what Covid and the aftermath of the pandemic provoked. The U.S. musician's vision of life is far removed from the ruthless commercial reality that oversees the music industry and that she herself has been able to experience firsthand in her 20 years as an artist. So much so that the lintel on which her record label is based subverts every paradigm in place: the mission of Blues & Greens is to restore basic humanity to the music business by placing healthy, sustainable business practices and well-being at the forefront. And, to making that principle practical, it is stipulated that Blues & Greens artists will own their masters, creative works and images: basically, they will not have to give anything away. In short, Lizz Wright is moving in a prolific sea, ready to stand as a breakwater to defending the economic - and other - interests of artists. Filed in the socially correct entrepreneurship, Lizz Wright artist hides nothing because from the first listen you understand who you will to be dealing with: a unique voice, made of velvet and sharp knives, ready to tear up blues or tear apart a soul melody, caressing jazz asperities. On the other hand, the New York Times' enlightening description sums up all of Wright's singing talents: "A soft, dark alto endowed with qualities you might associate with barrel-aged bourbon or butter-soft leather." There is a natural crossover in her music, because Lizz Wright puts music together without overthinking it, listening only to her soul, without locking it into the boxes of musical genres.

to twenty-three years old, signed a recording contract with Verve Records for the 2003 release of Salt , her debut album, which topped the charts in Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz section. Record featuring such musicians as Doug Weiss, Brian Blade, Jeff Haynes, Danilo Perez, and Jon Cowherd lined up alongside the singer. And the recording success on the American marketplace makes from forerunner to the worldwide one, which consecrates her as the best singer of the beginning of the Third Millennium.
Harari's musician continues to recording for Verve and in 2005 Dreaming Wide Awake is released, which also contains the song Hit The Ground , with over 40 million streaming listens, which accompanied an episode of the third season of the TV series House MD. An album in which Lizz Wright states even more of her artistic intent and brings together the best crafted songwriting with jazz, blues veins and some folk pages; an album that also features Bill Frisell. Certainly Lizz Wright does not churn out records like bread; she is not prolific to all the way: it is only when she has something from to say that she goes to the recording room. And, so, we have to wait until 2008 to see the release of her new recording work The Orchard . In 2010 came Fellowship , which sealed the artistic and friendship partnership with Meshell Ndegeocello and Angélique Kidjo, whom we also find in his latest production, Shadow . Freedom & Surrender (2015) seals the Georgia vocalist's move to Concord Records. In the production booth is Larry Kleine, who co-opts Dean Parks and Vinnie Colaiuta in the band, and guests Gregory Porter, who duets with Ours on the beautiful arrangement of the unputdownable Right Where You Are , and Till Brönner. Great satisfaction also comes from the single Lean In , which was part, to rightly titled, of the summer playlist of then U.S. President Barak Obama.
to two years later comes Grace (2017), which also features a cameo by Marc Ribot on a masterful rendition of Stars Fell On Alabama . to apart from the live recorded to Berlin already mentioned, the time jump with a new production is a full seven years. Shadow , released in April this year again for "his" Blues & Greens Records, is theopera of Lizz Wright's rebirth, because it comes after much meditation, after Covid, after a series of political vicissitudes, social conflicts that the United States has experienced, and is experiencing. A record that brings back Meshell Ndegeocello and Angélique Kidjo by her side, as well as Brandee Younger's precious harp. Eleven tracks, five of which are originals, that perfectly describe not only the artistic folds of this fantastic musician capable of reserving many surprises, but also a certainty: Lizz Wright banishes any stereotypes, from the musical ones to the historical ones.