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Elizabeth Shepherd

Velvety-voiced keyboardist Elizabeth Shepherd made her international debut when her first album, "Start To Move," was voted one of the best jazz albums of 2006 by listeners of the influential Gilles Peterson Show on BBC Radio Worldwide. Since then, this soul-jazz innovator based in Montreal has established herself as one of the most captivating and imaginative artists on the scene.

A classically trained pianist who turned to jazz through her love of old-school hip-hop, Elizabeth's style has been hailed as "wholly unique and unclassifiable … that blurs the boundaries between jazz, R&B, pop and hip hop" (MOJO Magazine, UK). A "jazz virtuoso with a pop sensibility" (Real Detroit Weekly), she has been praised by critics worldwide for her compelling songwriting and soulful performances. Her 8 widely acclaimed albums feature collaborations with Lionel Loueke, Larnell Lewis, Jasper Hoiby, Mitsu the Beats and Nostalgia 77, and have garnered her six JUNO noimations (Canada's GRAMMY awards) and two Polaris Prize nominations (Canada's most presitiougs music prize).

She has toured extensively aross North America, Europe, Japan, and latin America.

Jacek Kochan & musiConspiracy: Occupational Hazard

Read "Occupational Hazard" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner

by Franz A. Matzner
June 4, 2020

Polish-born and current Canadian Jacek Kochan's 22nd release as a leader, Occupational Hazard, exists at the crossroads of straight ahead and electric jazz. A drummer, composer and arranger, Kochan has played with a variety of musicians over the course of his long career. On Occupational Hazard he leverages this broad experience to bring together an unusual mix of instrumental and vocal talent, establishing an intriguing blend likely to appeal most to fans of accessible tunes dominated by guitar ...

Album Review

Elizabeth Shepherd's Trio: Start to Move

Read "Start to Move" reviewed by Rokas Kucinskas

by Rokas Kucinskas
September 20, 2016

It's hard to categorize Elizabeth Shepherd's music--much like a windmill with its stable parts, less and less visible in a motion. Yet a sense of direction isn't absent, and Shepherd offers a wide spectrum of textures ranging from musical complexity to lyrical musicality. The singer-songwriter's debut release Start to Move is full of hidden treasures for every jazz lover. Music on the album is filled with streams of ideas: soulful pieces filled with heavy syncopations, modal variations ...

Album Review

Elizabeth Shepherd: Signal

Read "Signal" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
September 16, 2014

Montreal-based singer Elizabeth Shepherd gently stirs jazz with an underground pop aesthetic in Signal. Similar to the fresh styles of contemporaries such as Esperanza Spalding and Gretchen Parlato, Shepherd's appeal is heard in her multifaceted gifts as a songwriter, musician, and composer; attributes which garnered her a Juno Award nomination for Best Vocal Jazz Album for her 2012 release Rewind (Linus Entertainment). Signal takes a soulful groove-centric stance with tight rhythmic hooks and beats that would fit ...

Catching Up With

Elizabeth Shepherd: A Jewel is Born

by Anthony King
April 25, 2012

When a fetus becomes the impetus. “Impetus" is a favored word lobbed by Elizabeth Shepherd into the conversation these days as she takes a deep breath and plunges into the great unknown of traveling on the road with a family. The winsome vocalist and jazz pianist had her first child six months ago and has unplugged her tribe from their downtown Toronto home to cover Canada, literally performing dates from Nanaimo, B.C. to St. Johns, Nfld. “Gosh, that's the hope; ...

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Album Review

Elizabeth Shepherd: Heavy Falls the Night

Read "Heavy Falls the Night" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
April 10, 2010

There is something so totally alluring about Elizabeth Shepherd's album Heavy Falls the Night that it bears very close listening. Every word and each note resonates with a certain swagger and at times, a soulful intensity that makes it impossible to give it a casual listen. Whether it is the manner in which Shepherd holds onto a spry note just out of her vocal range as if her life depended on it, or the unusual harmonies she overlays onto her ...

Performance / Tour

Elizabeth Shepherd Trio to perform in Quebec City

Source: All About Jazz
October 20, 2006

Start to Move with Elizabeth Shepherd Trio

Quebec Nu-Jazz Productions and CHYZ 94.3 presents Elizabeth Shepherd Trio in concert on October 22nd 2006 at Gallerie Rouje in Quebec Cuty, 8 PM. Be ready to move to the sound of her first album, live in Quebec for the first time.

Elizabeth Shepherd will be accompanied by bassist Scott Kemp and drummer Colin Kingsmore during her time in Quebec. The sweet sound of her voice, her instrumental play (she plays piano as ...
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"Soulful coolness" - USA Today

"Mag-ni-fique!" - Jazzafip, Radio France

"Extraordinary talent" - RBB Kulturradio (GER)

"Plus intéressante que la presque totalité des chanteuses associées au jazz" - La Presse (CAN)

"A name to watch" - Straight No Chaser (UK)

"Stunning....original and exciting" - Seattle Post (US)