LIZZ WRIGHT
Salt

Verve

Read the Jazzitude review of Lizz Wright/Dreaming Wide Awake
Read the Jazzitude review of Lizz Wright/The Orchard

 

These days there are a lot of recording opportunities for a singer as versatile and talented as Lizz Wright. Surely it would be a simple matter for her to wrap her warm, rich voice up in a hip-hop beat, hire a whizbang producer who could dress her up in samples referencing R&B’s rich cultural heritage and be at the top of the charts in no time. But the 23 year-old Atlanta vocalist doesn’t need the claptrap of modern star machinery to get her noticed—she’s the real deal. Wright’s debut CD, Salt, reveals her to be a singer with deep roots in true R&B, soul, jazz, gospel, and just the right dash of pop. She’s being compared to Sarah Vaughn and Oleta Adams, and though it takes more than one album to make a career, I can’t argue with the comparisons.

Salt is a genre-bending album that brings back reminders of classic R&B albums like Roberta Flack’s First Take or Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions. Wright, like Cassandra Wilson, doesn’t draw a line between black popular music genres, and she isn’t afraid of pop material. Another thing she has in common with Wilson is that she writes some of her own material, and that material is beautiful and mature, shot through with the power of her influences, but never sounding too derivative. Salt throws down the gauntlet immediately, as Wright performs a powerful rendition of Chick Corea’s “Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly,” backed by a band that includes Kenny Banks on Fender Rhodes, Sam Yahel on Hammond B-3, John Hart on guitar, Doug Weiss on bass, drummer Brian Blade, and percussionist Jeff Haynes. The group’s laid-back, organic approach to the song allows Wright to soar above the arrangement, showing her gospel influences right away. Compare this version to the sterile, modern “R&B” sound of the version Vanessa Williams recorded a few years ago, and you know instantly that Lizz Wright is on the right path.

She doesn’t let up, either. Her original song “Salt” brings forth a bluesy, jazzy feel (courtesy of some nice horn arrangements by Jon Cowherd). Wright’s got the vocal goods to deliver this, no question, but what is equally impressive is the fact that it is a really good song. “How can you lose your song/When you’ve sung it so long/How can you forget your dance/When that dance is all you’ve ever had/It must be true/You can’t separate the two/It’s impossible to do/Just like the salt that’s in the stew/It’s all a part of you.” Those lyrics speak volumes about Wright’s influences and her intentions on this album. Wright’s take on Mongo Santamaria’s classic “Afro Blue,” with lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr. is slow and sinuous, and Brian Blade’s arrangement creates an atmosphere that is palpably erotic. Danilo Perez contributes delicate shading and a great piano solo as the rhythm section ups the energy in the middle of the track. It’s the kind of arrangement and performance that has all but disappeared from jazz vocalists’ recordings, slowly but surely building its own atmosphere over nearly six minutes.

“Soon As I Get Home” from The Wiz, is a real revelation. This is the kind of track that you might hear American Idol finalists singing, and you can easily be forgiven for thinking that you don’t want to hear yet another version of it. But Wright brings such vulnerability, such longing to her performance that you are soon forgetting about where the song came from. It’s a performance that should reduce you to tears, and Lizz demonstrates the kind of ability to transform a popular song that Sarah Vaughn had. There’s a smoothness to the sound that producers Tommy LiPuma, Brian Blade, and Jon Cowherd have crafted for Wright on this album, and I imagine that some of these tracks will show up on adult contemporary and smooth jazz radio as Verve begins to promote Wright. But the smoothness that is here is one of craft, not a mere marketing tool, and Wright’s voice doesn’t make any compromises. When Wright tackles the traditional “Walk With Me, Lord,” the Gordon Jenkins-penned Benny Goodman theme “Goodbye,” (which features lovely soprano sax work from Chris Potter) or the Rachmaninov theme of “Vocalise” she’s not merely calling attention to the diverse styles she can sing. This music is all deeply meaningful to her, and she performs it all with skill that is nothing short of shocking in such a young singer.

Salt’s closing four-song salvo is nothing short of amazing. Wright’s original compositions “Fire” and “Blue Rose” (which she co-composed with Kenny Banks) are gorgeous, well-written songs that she performs with as much authority as she does some of the better-known songs on the album. “Fire” begins in a minor key before ascending into a glorious, major key pop chorus. “Blue Rose” features handsome acoustic guitar work from John Hart, its chorus (“Maybe she’s just a morning glory/caught in a tangle of vines”) nurtured by the upper range of the Fender Rhodes—a classic ‘70s soul sound. The penultimate track, “Lead the Way” is a Brian Blade composition that builds on a gospel chord progression and once again allows Wright to demonstrate how easily her voice can combine elements of blues, gospel, jazz, and pop to create a stunning listening experience. Salt concludes with Wright’s tune “Silence” on which she is accompanied by Blade on acoustic guitar and Adam Rogers on electric and bottleneck guitars. It has a classic rock ballad feel to it, offering yet one more facet of Lizz Wright’s diamond-bright talent to our view.

“I am inspired by music that portrays real life and real people,” says Wright. “I have been able to find this in almost every form of music, from gospel to jazz to certain types of R&B. I enjoy vocalists whose spirits are both deep and clear. A voice that affects me is akin to cleansing or healing – of those who have found a creative way to express everything from political views to very personal experiences. I aspire above all to be honest and transparent like them, and someday hope to teach others to do the same.” With Salt, Lizz Wright is well on her way to reaching her goals.