Jazz Articles about Lisa Fischer

About Lisa Fischer

Album Review

Joey Alexander: Celestial Keeper

Read "Celestial Keeper" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
July 18, 2026

Joey Alexander may no longer qualify as a prodigy, but his skills as a pianist and composer remain prodigious. The bell-like clarity of the notes ringing out at the outset of “Bemused (solo improv 1)" augurs as much for Celestial Keeper as it does for the now 22-year-old, who follows suit throughout the album. In fact, guest intervals that might otherwise stand as interruptions in the flow of work with his trio of bassist Kris Funn and drummer ...

Album Review

Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan

Read "Jackson Plays Dylan" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 9, 2026

On Jackson Plays Dylan, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, an admirer of Bob Dylan, aims his jazz arsenal toward the iconic singer and songwriter in hopes of reworking Dylan's folk/pop music into a framework that jazz enthusiasts might consider creative and pleasing. So how does that play? For the most part, rather tediously, which is surely not what Jackson's quartet had in mind. As it turns out, Dylan's themes sans lyrics do not lend themselves readily to the jazz ...

Album Review

Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan

Read "Jackson Plays Dylan" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
April 29, 2026

Bob Dylan without the lyric? Javon Jackson's Jackson Plays Dylan makes a strong case. With two exquisite exceptions, the arrangements are purely instrumental, but Jackson manages to draw us in past the words (he knows we can hear most of them in our heads) to the emotional heart of each piece. More than that, he turns the program into a sort of film score. Each song (scene) dissolves into the next via a snippet of its intro. Starting ...

Album Review

Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan

Read "Jackson Plays Dylan" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
March 27, 2026

With Jackson Plays Dylan, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson delves into one of the great sources of modern song, the work of Bob Dylan. He treats it with reverence, imagination, and a strong respect for jazz tradition. This is not a clever concept album but a heartfelt musician's dialogue with timeless material, influenced by tradition and deep musical listening. Jackson is joined on this release by pianist and keyboardist Jeremy Manasia, bassist Isaac Levien, drummer Ryan Sands, and Grammy-winning guest vocalists ...

Live Review

Ms. Lisa Fischer And The Orrin Evans Trio at Miner Auditorium

by Steven Roby
December 15, 2025

Lisa Fischer and The Orrin Evans Trio Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CA December 7, 2025 This partnership combines Lisa Fischer's soaring, acrobatic vocal power with Orrin Evans' refined, inventive jazz arrangements. It is a meeting of two worlds: the grounded, “barefoot" vulnerability of a singer who has spent forty years backing rock and r&b icons, and the sophisticated structure of a pianist who approaches every chord as a question. At a public listening ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Walk A Mile In My Shoe

Read "Walk A Mile In My Shoe" reviewed by Steve Plever

by Steve Plever
August 4, 2025

A glance through the track list--with covers of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye and two swing-era vocal standards--could give you the wrong impression. Yes, this is a very accessible and soulful album, but it is serious and heartfelt jazz, with Orrin Evans' personal stamp making it work. Blues, soul and gospel sounds share the stage here with swing, straight-ahead and avant-garde influences--no surprise given Evans' decade of playing with the Mingus Big Band. Evans' piano sets the tone ...

Live Review

Ranky Tanky with Ms. Lisa Fischer at the Carver

by Katchie Cartwright
February 18, 2025

Ranky Tanky with Ms. Lisa Fischer The Carver Community Cultural Center Jo Long Theatre San Antonio January 17 Some shows stick with you. Not that anyone remembers every note, every word, every move, but an ineffable feeling lingers. Maya Angelou said it: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Ranky Tanky and Ms. ...