Jazz Articles about Lisa Hilton

About Lisa Hilton

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Meet Lisa Hilton: Pianist Lisa Hilton is driven to compose. Her compositions--rich in blues inflections and soul--make precise use of harmony and rhythm, welcoming audiences into a unique exchange between composer and listener, a human intersection where magic happens. The result is a fresh sound that is evocative, engaging and infused with 21st century sensibility.JazzReview succinctly dubbed her “The Lioness of Jazz."Hilton believes in tradition expressed in new ways, honoring the history of classical ...

Album Review

Lisa Hilton: American Impressions

Read "American Impressions" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 15, 2012

Complacency can threaten to creep into a musician's being without their knowledge as time passes, but the opposite seems to have happened with pianist/composer Lisa Hilton. Her early records dealt in friendly pastel colors delivered in relatively safe fashion, but she's become more daring as time has passed. Her playing has become more limber, loose, organic, fearless and moody, and her music has benefited from this growth, as it now possesses a greater balance between shadows and light.

Extended Analysis

Lisa Hilton: American Impressions

by C. Michael Bailey
April 8, 2012

Lisa HiltonAmerican ImpressionsSelf Produced2012 The last few years have seen the release of significant jazz recordings celebrating Americana. The majority of these have been devoted to jazz vocals and include: Jacqui Sutton's novel “Frontier Jazz" concept as manifested on her 2010 release Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter Productions), Laurie Antonioli's rugged and rustic Midwestern soundscape on American Dream (Intrinsic Music, 2010), and Tierney Sutton's bold and uncompromising New World vista American ...

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Album Review

Lisa Hilton: Underground

Read "Underground" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 19, 2011

In the minds of some musicians and fans, music is meant to be an athletic competition where speed and strength trump everything else, but a large segment of audiences and performers don't buy into that line of thinking. Others believe that music can be a vehicle for expressing emotions and dealing in the art of communication, and pianist Lisa Hilton's Underground embodies those very ideals. Hilton's music has never been of the chops-heavy variety, but the California-based ...

Album Review

Lisa Hilton: Underground

Read "Underground" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 13, 2011

Un moderrn mainstream tutt'altro che scontato caratterizza il nono CD della pianista californiana Lisa Hilton. Al suo fianco tre superbi musicisti per un approccio trasversale agli stili del jazz, toccando blues, free e perfino echi classicheggianti. Underground è un disco in piena linea con le tendenze imperanti del post-moderno, volto a costruire percorsi mutidirezionali con un groove intenso e contagioso. Vivaci ed eterogenei, i brani della Hilton mettono in mostra una variopinta versatilità in grado di esplorare sia le radici ...

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Album Review

Lisa Hilton: New York Sessions

Read "New York Sessions" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
November 29, 2007

There was “The Dream Team, a collection of NBA players who filled most of the slots on the USA basketball team for the 1992 Olympics. Then there was “the dream team, high-priced lawyers who helped O.J. Simpson get acquitted of murder charges. For Lisa Hilton, the dream team is made up of four jazz musicians who joined the pianist/composer/producer for her ninth release, New York Sessions.A product of Southern California, Hilton drew some inspiration from her great-uncle, a ...

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Album Review

Lisa Hilton: The New York Sessions

Read "The New York Sessions" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone

by Michael P. Gladstone
October 18, 2007

It may surprise some but pianist Lisa Hilton has ten albums to her credit. The New York Sessions is number nine and presents several problems insofar as it being a unified jazz album. She is working with some A-List players--bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, altoist Steve Wilson and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. On paper, this looks like it should be an exciting album but much of it is spent on solo piano that sounds classical--and new age-driven.The album ...