With The Junior Blind of America

I had a GREAT time last week at The Junior Blind of America in Los Angeles last week. I LOVE those kids! We had just under 100 students/teachers/aides and it was a lot of fun. ALL the students wanted a hug afterwards, except one boy wanted two! What great spirits and really really good listeners. Top choices? They liked "Someday, Sometime, Soon" which is really a modal kind of piece with some unusual playing on it. They also liked "Jack & Jill" and "Boston +Blues" too. I think kids in general today are very sophisticated musically - they embrace such variety - dissonances included. Such a treat to play for them!

UNDERGROUND continues to moving ahead at radio - over 150 stations now playing - THANK YOU! Todd Steed at WUOT/Knoxville wrote: " Lisa Hilton has topped herself on UNDERGROUND. She's never played, written or expressed herself better as an artist. This is living adventurous jazz that breathes fresh but a the same time is rooted in the best parts of the past - and always deeply emotive. Surrounded by some of the finest musicians working today, Hilton hits the mark on every cut. She's joined the ranks of her own contemporary heroes." Thank you!

I'm off to NOLA for the Jazz Fest. I've never even been to the birthplace of jazz so I'm very excited. Then I come back to tour: May 25/Hollywood, June 8/NYC, August 4/Cambridge, and Sept 14/Boston. Hope to see you "Sometime, Somehow, Soon"!

Take care,
Lisa

Happy Easter and Boston Club date change

Hello and Happy Easter!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend. Yesterday I hiked with friends to the waterfall near my home. It's a great trail through ancient oaks, a sprinkling of wildflowers and some lush poison oak to step around. Everyone on the trail seemed to be smiling and enjoying a sunny day outdoors. At the base of the waterfall we normally see California newts - golden brown water dwellers that look like Gollum-ish geckos hanging out. Besides the year round waterfall surrounded by maiden hair ferns, I love the trail because unlike most Malibu trails, there are no coyotes or rattlesnakes on it, and it really makes a more pleasant hike! ( I did see a mountain lion once though!) When I enter the green umbrella zone under the oaks and step across stones in the stream crossings, I feel like Alice in Wonderland: that I am in another world. Not what you'd normally expect in the greater Los Angeles area, but it's here.

Well the date at Regatta Bar in Boston is going to be rescheduled. We will not be playing May 3 as scheduled. If you have bought tickets please request a refund. I am sorry for the change, but the Hotel asked us to move the date. I'll keep you posted on any new dates.

I am looking forward to playing this week at The Junior Blind of America in Los Angeles - a great group, and then May 25 at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood - know for the good food and great parking. Also scheduled with the band June 8th at Zinc Bar in NYC's Greenwich Village. I really am in the mood to play so invite your friends or family and come on out! I assure you it will be fun!

"Underground" continues to do great a radio - fans have written that they have been hearing it in Philly and MA. If your station isn't playing it, I hope it will happen soon!

Take care,

Lisa

LisaHiltonMusic.com

Great Response from Radio So Far!

Hi There!

Spring is definitely arriving - the hills in Malibu are lightly green, the cherry blossoms and magnolias in DC were profuse and a film by the name of "Hop" was #1 at the box office this weekend! Definitely springtime.

Well tomorrow is officially the add radio date for "Underground", but we've already had a great response in lots of strong markets: Philadelphia, SF, Cleveland, DC, Orlando, and some syndicated shows, as well as all around favorites like Rochester, IA, NC, ME, WI, NM etc. I work in "isolation" for almost a year as a composer, then book L O N G hours producing the CD and sending it out - then just WAIT for a response with my fingers crossed. To have busy radio MD's, PD's and hosts find time to listen and immediately start playing is just a really really nice relief that everything is going to be ok. I don't really "worry" because we can only do what we can do at any point in time. I just feel thankful and, like I said RELIEVED that there seems to be a very quick initial response to "Underground". THANK YOU! This support is so appreciated.

As I mentioned, DC was beautiful but it was a lot of fun too. I got to sleep late - truly a treat, and visited the National Museum of Art and viewed their very nice contemporary collection. Playing at Twins Jazz was a lot of fun -the audience was comprised of True Believers there. People are often very touched after a performance - that means a lot to me. I also was reading a great book: "The Miles Davis Reader" which was published by DownBeat Magazine as a complete collection of ALL the interviews, articles and reviews about the legendary artist. I've read 2 or 3 books already about Miles, but this gives a more full or complete view of the person because it is not one writer commenting - it is a collection of writings as well as Miles' own words. It's just great - highly recommended.

Still upcoming in Boston @ Regatta Bar May 3 - PLEASE come if you can - I don't really know a lot of people there, and besides it is the official debut of Boston + Blues! I'll be with JD Allen on sax, Jaimeo Brown/drums, (Geri Allen) and Ameen Saleem (Roy Hargrove) on bass. In April I'll be at Junior Blind of America and May 25 at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, where it's basically, my "home court" there. It WILL be fun - a solo show. Then I know it's not a big spot, but it's definitely a cool Greenwich Village haunt, Zinc Bar on June 8, again with JD and the guys. There are more dates for fall, but try and come out if you can this spring.

Take care and enjoy spring!

Lisa

LisaHiltonMusic.com

Hi there -



I haven't written for a while because I've been in the studio finishing my new release and then preparing to perform too. But it is now OFFICIALLY out! UNDERGROUND heads out to radio this week, and is already available at Amazon.com, iTunes and LisaHiltonMusic.com, with CDBaby adding it very soon for sale. It was such a great experience to record this CD - I did all the sessions in NYC which, for this small town California girl, was very exciting. How nice to walk to work instead of struggle in traffic! UNDERGROUND features Larry Grenadier on bass once again, and tenor saxman, J.D. Allen too, with the new addition of Nasheet Waits on drums. I am so pleased with the results, but is always a weird experience to finish a release and then no one hears it for about 3 months while the finishing work is done. It's like having a baby and no one sees it until months later! Now I get to share it with the world, and that is a deeply satisfying feeling. Creating music is about exploring my instrument and what I desire to communicate musically, working with compositional challenges and playing/interacting with my band. But I also am always thinking of my audience - what would you like to listen too? The end product feels like a gift I picked out for you and worked really hard on with the help of a lot of very talented people, so I hope you like it: UNDERGROUND was created with you in mind.

What are my favorite parts? J.D. on "Boston + Blues", Larry's solo on "Jack & Jill", Nasheet on... everything! The sound on UNDERGROUND has a really loose feel to it which I like a lot, and the few people who have heard it have commented on the great interplay within the band. It was such a cool experience all around - with great engineers as well: James Farber, Fernando Lodeiro, Larry Mah and Mark Wilder. I even like how the photos came out by Michael Weintrob on the very rainy cold day we had booked to shoot the cover.

Please try and make it out to one of the performances - it will be fun to play the new music - I even have one fan flying in from Luxembourg trying to make one of the show. How great!
March 31, 2011 @ Twins Jazz in Washington, D.C, http://www.TwinsJazz.com *
April 28, 2011 @ The Junior Blind of America in Los Angeles, CA. http:// www.JuniorBlind.org *
May 3, 2011 @ Regatta Bar near Boston, MA. http://RegattaBar.com **
May 25, 2011 @ Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, CA.http://www. CatalinaJazzClub.com *
June 8, 2011 @ Zinc Bar in Greenwich Village, NYC. www.zincbar.com **
* Solo performance ** With J.D. Allen/tenor sax, Jaimeo Brown/drums and Ameen Saleem/bass

What do you think of the 3 minute behind the scenes video from UNDERGROUND?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgHMPe9gew

Take care I hope Spring arrives soon for you!

Lisa

LisaHiltonMusic.com

Wishing you and your family the very best Holiday Season and a really swingin' New Years Eve! Also hope you will have a wonderful year in 2010.

Love,
Lisa

I'll be in Delaware this weekend...

Hi there,

Fall is here and the last date of my tour is Saturday night, October 23rd in Dover, Delaware at The Schwartz Center for the Arts at 7pm. It's close to Philly and DC too, so please come if you can and say "hi"! I had a great time in Ohio performing a couple of weeks ago - a beautiful state in the fall, and lots of fun in Chicago at Buddy Guy's new club, Legends. You can see in the photo above, by John Broughton I was enjoying myself! Read more about it and see more photos at: JazzChicago.net I was there to do a fundraiser for The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired. They do such great work, and it is inspiring to be around them. Well, they're a lot of fun too, so it was a great trip all around.

My latest release, "Nuance" has continued to do well - many people are hearing it on Music Choice as well as the radio. Last year's, "Twilight & Blues" really had a lot of support too- it was on the charts for over a year! Thank you all - I really appreciate it as an indie artist.

The touring has been a great experience, but I'm composing new music now, and will return to that full time for the next couple of months. That really is my very favorite part - seeing new music unfold is such a magical experience - worth all the work!

Take care and enjoy the fall and upcoming Halloween,

Lisa
LisaHiltonMusic.com

Hi From Lisa Hilton

Hi There!



Summer's over, but I know there's still some late warm weather for a lot of us, so that's always nice. Here's a photo from my Hollywood gig a couple weeks ago. It was a great time - I was joined by my favorite tenor sax, J.D. Allen, Gregg August on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. Lots and lots of fun! I will be in Chicago next week, Sept. 30 at Buddy Guy's Legends - please come out if you can. It is a solo piano show that will benefit The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired. It's a wonderful organization, that has a broad reach helping those with vision impairment everywhere. After that I'll be in Port Clinton Ohio on Oct 1 & 2, and winding up my tour in Dover, Delaware Oct 23. I hope to see you if you can make one of those last tour dates. Going out for jazz is always a nice evening!

"Nuance" has done really well at radio - over 200 stations are playing that CD, and it is currently #3 on one radio chart. That's great, but a nicer surprise is that "Twilight & Blues" is also doing well from last year and still appearing on radio charts! Big smiles all around for that - thank you to radio and my fans for listening!

Besides touring this summer, I had a fun at the JazzWeek Summit in Rochester, NY, a family trip to Europe where I got to go to the NorthSea Jazz Festival in July, and then my FAVORITE time is always the Newport Jazz Festival - a real trek to get there from California, (a plane, car and boat ride), but such a wonderful music festival. Now I'm composing - I just love composing! Lots of new music coming out for next year. Stay tuned.

If you get a chance, pick up the book, "The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today's Legends and Artists of Tomorrow" (Random House/2010) by Cicily Janus. It's a really great book - not because they included me - but because it gives a really accurate rendering of the passion and personality that you find in a jazz musician. It's inspiring and fun to read about great musicians too. Check it out.

Take care,

Lisa