EARLY REVIEWS FOR NOCTURNAL “No one plays, writes or puts together a band better than this great, talented lady! NOCTURNAL is another in a growing list of deep excellent works from Hilton.” Russ Davis/Voice of America “NOCTURNAL is simply phenomenal. The composing and playing on this album is a tour de force. A quantum lead forward outward and upward for Hilton as a composer and she and her band have executed it flawlessly – truly an amazing group producing truly […]
Lisa Hilton’s Jazz Rings True for Students Who Are Blind Renowned composer/pianist pays a visit to Perkins School for the Blind.Watertown, Mass. – It was an unlikely time and place for jazz. Just before noon on a Friday at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, pianist and composer Lisa Hilton took the stage in Dwight Hall to bring her music to 100 students, staff and guests. Before she began, she did something artists rarely do. She asked her […]
Lisa Hilton with Antonio Sanchez, J.D. Allen, Terell Stafford & Gregg August (photo: George Brooks) Q: What is “trans-genre” music? You mention that some of the music on NOCTURNAL is trans-genre. LH: While I was composing music for NOCTURNAL, there was a media uproar regarding a white woman pretending to be black and a male athlete who transgendered to female. I also saw a comedian in Los Angeles, make us laugh when he noted that soon we’d all be the […]
“Hilton is a dynamic soloist who understands form and architecture; the music is artfully constructed but delivers an affecting punch.” Donald Elfman/The New York Jazz City Record, Dec. 2014 “Lisa Hilton, purely and simply, continues to astound me. Her new CD, Horizons, is beyond belief – some of the music brings tears to my eyes, and isn’t that what it’s all about, evoking emotion? Whether she’s playing with that light and beautiful touch, or with her deep, driving, complex sound, it’s absolutely […]
Kaleidoscope CD Media Reviews: Lisa Hilton/piano, J.D. Allen/tenor sax, Larry Grenadier/bass, Marcus Gilmore/drums “An outstanding collection of tunes… Kaleidoscope is full of great music.” JazzTimes.com “The sheer beauty of her playing –the rhythmic acuity, those silky lines –“ Down Beat “Kaleidoscope pulsates with warm sensuous harmonies, originality & swinging brilliance.” San Diego County News “One of the finest composers working in jazz today.” Ken Frankling/Jazz Notes April 2014 “Under the deft touch and considerable artistic vision of Lisa Hilton, modern […]
Kaleidoscope Reviews:Lisa Hilton/piano, J.D. Allen/tenor sax, Larry Grenadier/bass, Marcus Gilmore/drums “Pianist/composer Lisa Hilton again delivers an outstanding collection of tunes focused on balancing the simple and complex. Kaleidoscope is full of great music; Hilton and Allen speak the same melodic language and Grenadier and Gilmore push and pull the beat in truly interesting way.” H.Allen Williams/JazzTimes “One of the finest composers working in jazz today.” Ken Frankling/Jazz Notes April 2014 “Under the deft touch and considerable artistic vision of Lisa […]
“Pianist Lisa Hilton has made an art out of balancing the simple and complex. Her work speaks with extreme clarity and serves as a benchmark for a less-is-more style of piano playing that appeals to a wide swath of listeners, but it isn’t plain-Jane jazz. Hilton has a way of taking a basic idea and stretching its conceptual fabric to the breaking point. Singsong ideals are twisted, contorted and distorted, and rhythmic ideas are pulled out of focus, blurring the […]
“An incredible offering. One of the years best.” CriticalJazz.com March/20/2012 “American Impressions presents rich slices of uncensored scenery filtered through the mind of a true original at the top of her game”. Dan Bilawsky/All About Jazz, April 2012 Pick of the Week: “Deeply considered, impressionistic compositions.” Don Heckman/International Review of Music “From a strictly right brain, (pleasure) interpretation, this album is a winner. They pay equal tributes to the legacy of jazz and to the natural progression of musical tastes, […]
Recommended New Release for April: “Underground”: Lawrence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor, The New York City Jazz Record (formerly AAJ/NY) “A master mood – setter and a conceptualist nonpareil”. Dan Bilawsky/All About Jazz, September 20, 2011 “But how does she sound? Well, she treats most of her chords like big doleful concerns: They can consume, but they almost always demand your deepest investigation, concentration. That’s why their pathos is so strong. In the right hand, Hilton crafts illuminative, seeping melodies. When she […]
(Random House 2010) by Cicly Janus, Ned Radinsky, Sonny Rollins, Marcus Miller, and Wynton Marsalis Read about Lisa Hilton and other artists in “The New Face of Jazz”: a book for all those jazz fans who want an in-depth look at who and what is hot on the jazz scene today. “Lisa Hilton has been compared to some of the best pianists in history, such as Bill Evans and Brad Mehldau…” Cicily Janus