Like most Gospel singers, Lizz Wright’s career was seeded in the church; her father and mother were her church’s minister and musical director and she sang and played piano for her congregation at an early age. And like most Gospel singers, as she was becoming active in sacred music, she also developed a fascination in the more secular forms of Jazz and Blues.
In high school, Wright won the National Choral Award, which led her to study singing at Georgia State University, The New School in New York City and in Vancouver, Canada. When she was 20 years old, Wright joined the renowned vocal quartet In the Spirit, which ultimately led to her solo contract with Verve Records in 2002. Her debut album, 2003’s Salt, earned her comparisons to Norah Jones for her seamless blending of Jazz and Pop, as did its Folk-tinged follow-up, 2005’s Dreaming Wide Awake (the former got as far as No. 2 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart, while the latter took the top spot).
Wright’s third album, 2008’s The Orchard, was notable for its amazing guest list, including keyboardist-to-the-stars Patrick Warren, Folk legend Toshi Reagon, peerless session multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and the members of iconic desert Indie Rock outfit Calexico. It was also lauded for Wright’s emotive work on the album, particularly her soulful take on Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You.”
On The Orchard, Wright tabled her Jazz influences and concentrated on the Folk/Roots side of her musical equation. For 2010’s Fellowship, Wright returned to her Gospel beginnings with a set devoted to modern arrangements of Gospel standards, then waited a full five years before releasing her ecstatic Jazz/Pop/Blues masterpiece, Freedom & Surrender, the perfect hybrid of the full range of her estimable talents and influences. Wright’s just-released Grace follows a similar sonic arc, if from a slightly more reflective and somber perspective, particularly on the album’s only original tune, the atmospherically earthy “All the Way Here,” but also on the Jazz-kissed Folk lilt of “Stars Fell on Alabama” and her languorous take on Allen Toussaint’s classic “Southern Nights.”
Wright intended Grace to be her love letter to her Southern homeland, but the post-election recording became a plea for renewed faith and resolution in the face of disappointment and frustration. If Grace is Wright’s political album, it is the politics of the soul. Amen to that.
Click here for tickets/more show info.
This article appears in Sep 20-27, 2017.