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Editorial Reviews
Review
An impressive disc. Hilton displays remarkable creativity. --George Harris/The Jazz Messenger, March 2012
The musical symmetry and oneness is surreal. The band's music is complex yet filled with rhythmic joy. --Bubba Jackson/KKJZ Radio Los Angeles, March 2012
Hilton displays an effortless command of harmonic changes while allowing the individual performers to chart their own melodic course with ease. An incredible offering. One of the years best. --Brent Black/CriticalJazz.com March 2012
The musical symmetry and oneness is surreal. The band's music is complex yet filled with rhythmic joy. --Bubba Jackson/KKJZ Radio Los Angeles, March 2012
Hilton displays an effortless command of harmonic changes while allowing the individual performers to chart their own melodic course with ease. An incredible offering. One of the years best. --Brent Black/CriticalJazz.com March 2012
Product Description
As composers Gershwin, Copland and others have done, Hilton creates musical experiences focused on impressionistic views of everyday life in America. Once again backed with the creative force of J.D. Allen on tenor sax, Larry Grenadier/bass and Nasheet Waits/drums, Hilton explores 21st Century jazz.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Hugh Carson
Format:Audio CD
I'm a DJ (jazz, blues, zydeco, soul, outlaw country) with the handle Hurricane on a local community radio station KVNF-FM that serves most of the central portion of the Western Slope of Colorado. I am not a musician. Nonetheless I got "the fire in the belly" for la musique. You know what I'm talkin' about, feeling it from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, as well as all points in between.
Our music director at KVNF, a jazz aficionado herself, turned me on to LH around '06 with Midnight in Manhattan, and I've been hooked on Lisa's playing ever since.
In the interests of full disclosure, Ms. Hilton and I have never met but we share a connection: I fought forest fires from the air for 41 years. Lisa has a house in Malibu that we apparently saved one year ('93??. ) After playing "Midnight" as well as earlier albums frequently on the radio, I contacted her in '06 just to express my appreciation for her genius music. We've kept in touch since as she has issued a succession of simply great CDs.
"American Impressions:" perfect title for the "latest and greatest" from a person I consider one of the best players in the business (to say nothing of her roles as composer, bandleader and producer). We've had other musical folks like Aaron Copland trying to define America in other time periods. With "American Impressions," Lisa Hilton captures "American Landscapes" of feeling, sound, and sight and touch in such an incredibly straight-ahead and beautiful way, her music touches me deeply. Straight to the heart. No frills, no froth . . . the straight, honest truth lies in her music.
I listened to McCoy's music for 40 years, never tired of it, still love it and still play him with regularity. But I do know the riffs, there are no real surprises left, his continuing genius just makes me smile, again and again.
But with Ms. Hilton, I can still go back to those earlier albums of hers, to say nothing of the newer ones, and each and every time, hear new perspectives, little touches here and there, a trill here, a pounding left hand there, a lightly-bowed, barely heard bass that lasts only 10 seconds, 4 instruments weaving this incredible evocative tapestry, all this just downright blows me away. To say nothing of the pure joy of riding the wave of tunes like "Pandemonium" or "Heat Wave" or "Meltdown" or "Boston+Blues."
And the folks she records and plays with - Larry Grenadier, Lewis Nash, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Nasheet Waits, and whichever genius she has on sax for a particular album, J.D. Allen on this one (and my apologies for only naming a few), you all are just so tight and and "on it." Her "soft" is soft, subtle, exquisitely meandering, thoughtful, I can almost sense the thought that pervades the piece. Her hard-drivin' is hard-drivin,' it literally envelopes you. You get the point . . . real quick.
So this new CD, "American Impressions?" I played it for the first time yesterday. She's going to introduce it tonight in Chicago. Bottom line? Brilliant.
I e-mailed Lisa yesterday with a few of my initial takes on some of the songs:
"Too Hot:" Wow, what a way to establish the tone of the CD.
"Anatomy Of The Blues - this is so smooth and warm and wandering in a mindful way, and it's got some of those signature "Lisa Hilton riffs," as I call them. Not necessarily musical riffs but the "thought riffs," the way you arranged things, and the varying time signatures, letting the sax weave above and around, it's stunning. Just stunning.
"When It Rains:" Beauteous. Evocative, this time rain, but as I told you about "After The Fire" on "Sunny Day Theory," that song captured those images of the morning after a fire storm moves through some So Cal brushfield, yeah, like around Malibu unfortunately, and the sun rises on the still-smoking brush staubs on the blackened hillsides. You nailed that one - I've played it for some of my comrades in fire, then told 'em the tune's name, and they go, "Jeeez, that's it!!. Same here with the Rain. Love Grenadier bowing the bass - just a touch - with a minute left. Tasteful, tasty. The last 10 seconds very very cool. Great to the last beat.
"Subway" As an ex-NYC boy (1960s), I was eager, with the title, on what he song would be, and as I write this, we're about a minute into it ...listening ... the repetitive piano, yeah, we're traveling, I like it, Grenadier and Waits perfect. Ha!! Good one.
"Echoes of Harlem." Not even going to try to say how good this is. I do guarantee this is going to get played with Tedeschi-Trucks' "Midnight in Harlem." What a fit. The rest of the cuts are equally good.
That's another thing that separates Lisa from 95% of the rest, regardless of genre.
With 38,000 CDs in our station, it's fair to say I've listened and played a lot of 'em, but rarely do I find a player, who consistently turns out brilliantly stunning music on each and every cut, on each and every album. The passion that she puts into getting each and every song "just right" is one of the things that places Lisa head and shoulders above the rest, "one of the best of the best." That's special, folks. Extra-special. 'Nuff said.
Our music director at KVNF, a jazz aficionado herself, turned me on to LH around '06 with Midnight in Manhattan, and I've been hooked on Lisa's playing ever since.
In the interests of full disclosure, Ms. Hilton and I have never met but we share a connection: I fought forest fires from the air for 41 years. Lisa has a house in Malibu that we apparently saved one year ('93??. ) After playing "Midnight" as well as earlier albums frequently on the radio, I contacted her in '06 just to express my appreciation for her genius music. We've kept in touch since as she has issued a succession of simply great CDs.
"American Impressions:" perfect title for the "latest and greatest" from a person I consider one of the best players in the business (to say nothing of her roles as composer, bandleader and producer). We've had other musical folks like Aaron Copland trying to define America in other time periods. With "American Impressions," Lisa Hilton captures "American Landscapes" of feeling, sound, and sight and touch in such an incredibly straight-ahead and beautiful way, her music touches me deeply. Straight to the heart. No frills, no froth . . . the straight, honest truth lies in her music.
I listened to McCoy's music for 40 years, never tired of it, still love it and still play him with regularity. But I do know the riffs, there are no real surprises left, his continuing genius just makes me smile, again and again.
But with Ms. Hilton, I can still go back to those earlier albums of hers, to say nothing of the newer ones, and each and every time, hear new perspectives, little touches here and there, a trill here, a pounding left hand there, a lightly-bowed, barely heard bass that lasts only 10 seconds, 4 instruments weaving this incredible evocative tapestry, all this just downright blows me away. To say nothing of the pure joy of riding the wave of tunes like "Pandemonium" or "Heat Wave" or "Meltdown" or "Boston+Blues."
And the folks she records and plays with - Larry Grenadier, Lewis Nash, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Nasheet Waits, and whichever genius she has on sax for a particular album, J.D. Allen on this one (and my apologies for only naming a few), you all are just so tight and and "on it." Her "soft" is soft, subtle, exquisitely meandering, thoughtful, I can almost sense the thought that pervades the piece. Her hard-drivin' is hard-drivin,' it literally envelopes you. You get the point . . . real quick.
So this new CD, "American Impressions?" I played it for the first time yesterday. She's going to introduce it tonight in Chicago. Bottom line? Brilliant.
I e-mailed Lisa yesterday with a few of my initial takes on some of the songs:
"Too Hot:" Wow, what a way to establish the tone of the CD.
"Anatomy Of The Blues - this is so smooth and warm and wandering in a mindful way, and it's got some of those signature "Lisa Hilton riffs," as I call them. Not necessarily musical riffs but the "thought riffs," the way you arranged things, and the varying time signatures, letting the sax weave above and around, it's stunning. Just stunning.
"When It Rains:" Beauteous. Evocative, this time rain, but as I told you about "After The Fire" on "Sunny Day Theory," that song captured those images of the morning after a fire storm moves through some So Cal brushfield, yeah, like around Malibu unfortunately, and the sun rises on the still-smoking brush staubs on the blackened hillsides. You nailed that one - I've played it for some of my comrades in fire, then told 'em the tune's name, and they go, "Jeeez, that's it!!. Same here with the Rain. Love Grenadier bowing the bass - just a touch - with a minute left. Tasteful, tasty. The last 10 seconds very very cool. Great to the last beat.
"Subway" As an ex-NYC boy (1960s), I was eager, with the title, on what he song would be, and as I write this, we're about a minute into it ...listening ... the repetitive piano, yeah, we're traveling, I like it, Grenadier and Waits perfect. Ha!! Good one.
"Echoes of Harlem." Not even going to try to say how good this is. I do guarantee this is going to get played with Tedeschi-Trucks' "Midnight in Harlem." What a fit. The rest of the cuts are equally good.
That's another thing that separates Lisa from 95% of the rest, regardless of genre.
With 38,000 CDs in our station, it's fair to say I've listened and played a lot of 'em, but rarely do I find a player, who consistently turns out brilliantly stunning music on each and every cut, on each and every album. The passion that she puts into getting each and every song "just right" is one of the things that places Lisa head and shoulders above the rest, "one of the best of the best." That's special, folks. Extra-special. 'Nuff said.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
In the galaxy of contemporary jazz piano, one of the brightest stars to shine is Lisa Hilton. The highly regarded publication JazzReview even referred to her as "The Lioness Of Jazz." Over the years, Lisa, whose musical brilliance has been compared to Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, and George Shearing, has surrounded herself with some of the top players in jazz, and this project is no exception. Her band members are all Downbeat Critic's Choice award winners with extensive music industry credits.
One of the outstanding features of Lisa's music is its diversity. The album reflects an ever-changing spectrum of styles, moods, and influences. A good example of this is on "When It Rains," which opens with cascading piano arpeggios, washes of cymbal, and the textural percussion of brushes on drums, before evolving into a light melody with lovely liquid piano notes raining over cello-like bowed bass. This is one of Lisa's more impressionistic pieces, and one of my favorites - although it could be said that there is fair amount of impressionism in her playing in general.
Things shift quickly to another track on the next piece entitled "Subway." With its fast pace and urgent sense of forward motion, it perfectly captures the vibe under the streets in a city like New York. As might be expected, this is one of the edgier compositions, and is a wild ride - hang on. Then, providing a perfect breather, is "Accidental Romance," a laid back bluesy number, perhaps influenced by Lisa's long time love for artists like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, etc, although in a jazzier, more free flowing style than the standard 12 bar blues. An intriguing choice for a cover tune is an instrumental interpretation of Joni Mitchells "Rainy Night House." This is a whole other piece of Americana and a welcome addition to the patchwork quilt this album represents. In Lisa's words: "As an American composer and pianist, I embrace or reference our great traditional music: jazz, blues, minimalism, Americana, and our songbook of standards, in a way that is embedded in the twenty-first century."
One of the outstanding features of Lisa's music is its diversity. The album reflects an ever-changing spectrum of styles, moods, and influences. A good example of this is on "When It Rains," which opens with cascading piano arpeggios, washes of cymbal, and the textural percussion of brushes on drums, before evolving into a light melody with lovely liquid piano notes raining over cello-like bowed bass. This is one of Lisa's more impressionistic pieces, and one of my favorites - although it could be said that there is fair amount of impressionism in her playing in general.
Things shift quickly to another track on the next piece entitled "Subway." With its fast pace and urgent sense of forward motion, it perfectly captures the vibe under the streets in a city like New York. As might be expected, this is one of the edgier compositions, and is a wild ride - hang on. Then, providing a perfect breather, is "Accidental Romance," a laid back bluesy number, perhaps influenced by Lisa's long time love for artists like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, etc, although in a jazzier, more free flowing style than the standard 12 bar blues. An intriguing choice for a cover tune is an instrumental interpretation of Joni Mitchells "Rainy Night House." This is a whole other piece of Americana and a welcome addition to the patchwork quilt this album represents. In Lisa's words: "As an American composer and pianist, I embrace or reference our great traditional music: jazz, blues, minimalism, Americana, and our songbook of standards, in a way that is embedded in the twenty-first century."
Format:Audio CD
Somehow this has got to be the worst display of pointless piano noodling ever recorded. There's not a hint of expressive quality, concept, strength, technical skill, musicality, creativity or artistic punch to Lisa Hilton's playing.
