The Smith Center Archives - Lisa Hilton Music

You are invited…..

May 7, 2015 by Lisa Hilton

jazz, lisa hilton, Rudy Royston, The Smith Center, Vibrato Grill Jazz

“Absolutely incredible music.” KVNF RADIO

See the acclaimed pianist/composer Lisa Hilton Trio Live

with Ben Street/bass and Rudy Royston/drums

MAY 14 Thurs at SF Jazz/Joe Henderson Lab / 8:00pm
San Francisco, CA 94102 / (826) 920-5299 www.SFJazz.org
MAY 15 & 16 Friday & Saturday at The Smith Center / 7pm
Las Vegas, NV 89106 /( 702)749-2000 www.TheSmithCenter.com
MAY 17 Sunday at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill Jazz
two shows at 7 & 8:30 pm 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, West Los Angeles, CA
Call for reservations (310)474-9400
https://vibrato.herbalpertpresents.com

January 17, 2016 at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall 2pm
http://www.carnegiehall.org/Events/#!sdate=2016/1/17

HORIZONS is available in CD/vinyl/digital at iTunes/Amazon and LisaHiltonMusic.com

Twenty nine again

May 2, 2015 by Lisa Hilton

Blog, piano jazz

JazzWeek, lisa hilton, Rudy Royston Ben Street, SFJazz, The Smith Center, Vibrato Jazz Grill

Hello and Happy May!

We’re happy to see we are once again #29 on the JazzWeek chart. That’s Sean Jones, Rudy Royston, myself, JD Allen and Gregg August working away on HORIZONS last fall, and it’s just terrific to see the support our second and third weeks at radio. We appreciate it very much – whether you are a large, small, internet, specialty show or syndicated station, it means a lot that you enjoy our creativity. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT: WAER/NY, WAWL/TN, WBGU/OH, WCLK/GA, WCNI/CT, WCPN/OH, WDBX/IL, WDET/MI, WDNA/FL, WDVR/NJ, WEMU/MI, WERU/ME, WESS/PA, WFCF/FL, WFIT/FL, WGMC/NY, WGVU/MI, WHPC/NY, WICR/IN, WJSU/MS, WKNH/NH, WLFR/NJ, WMBH/ME, WMNR & WRXC/CT, WMUA/MA, WMUH/PA, WNCU/NC, WNMC/MI, WOMR/MA, WPFW/DC, WPRB/NJ, WQLN/PA, WRBC/ME, WRPI/NY, WRTI/PA, WSHA/NC, WSIE/IL, WTJU/VA, WTUL/LA, WUEV/IN, WUMER/TN, WVIA/PA, WVUD/DE, WWSP/WI, WWUH/CT, WWVU/WV, WXPN/PA, WYSO/OH, ZMR/LA, KACU/TX, KAJZ/CO, KAJZ/NM, KANU/KANH/KANV/TX, KBAC/NM, KBEM/MN, KBRW/AK, KCAW/AK, KCCK/IA, KCCR/WA, KCSM/CA, KDNK/CO, KDVS/CA, KDYA/CA, KEOL/HI, KEWU/WA, KMBH&KHIH/CO, KKRN&KWMR/CA, KLCC/OR, KMNO & KEAO/HI, KMST/MO KMSU/MN, KMUN/OR, KMUW/KS, KMXT & KUHB/AK KNTU/TX, KOPN/MO, KOPR/online, KDSRCB/CA, KRCL/UT, KRFC/CO, KRSC/KY, KRTU/TX, KRVR/CA, KSDS/CA, KSER/WA, KTEP/TX, KTSU/TX, KUNV/NV, KUSD/SD, KUVO/CO, KVNF/CO -they did a “CD release event on air that was great fun, KYGT/CO, KZYX & KZYZ/CA, A ULTIMA FRONTIERA/SPAIN, ACCURADIO/IL, AMBIENT STUDIOS/UK, ANIMA JAZZ/ITALY, AUDIOADACITY/MO, ASTREUX/VA, BLU FM/AUSTRALIA, CALM RADIO/CANADA, CFRO/CANADA, CINQ/CANADA, CJLL/CANADA, CKUW/CANADA, CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTALS, CO, ENLIGHTENED PIANO/NE, FULL CIRCLE/LA, GALAXIE/NJ, GOT RADIO/CA & AZ, HPR-2/HI, INSTRUMENTAL HITS/online, JAZZ AFTER HOURS/WA, JAZZ FROM THE GALLERY/CA, JAZZ RADIO..COM/CA, MAX FM/ AUSTRALIA, MixIR/online, MOJA RADIO/FL, MPR/MT, MUSIC BEYOND WORDS/CO, MUSICAS IMAGINADAS/online, MY SPIRIT RADIO/UK, NO SOLO JAZZ/SPAIN, ONE WORLD MUSIC/GREECE, PEACEFUL RADIO/HOLLAND, PHASE RADIO/AUSTRALIA, OUR PLACE RADIO/online, RADIO CLUJ/ROMANIA, RADIO DESPI/SPAIN, RADIO GALILEE/CANADA, RADIO PEACEFUL MOMENTS/online, RADIO RELAX/BELARUS, RADIOIO/NCRADIO TUNES/RUSSIA, RADIO VALENCIA/SPAIN, SOLO PIANO RADIO/TX, SOUL & JAZZ/ NE, SOUL TRAVELER/online, TAINT RADIO/NC, THE GLOBAL VOICE-WQNA/CA, TOPPY JAZZ/HOLLAND and probably a few more that I have missed, bringing us to about 150 stations so far in our quest to share our music everywhere. Wonderful! We hope your audience really enjoys the music. We also liked being on the CMJ chart last week too, and will be on the ZMR chart very soon too.

The idea behind HORIZONS is related to the challenges we face in our lives today – from Nepal to Baltimore the world seems to constantly pull at our spirits. We tried to create music with the sense of uplift that you receive when you are in nature – a sense of renewal in the middle of constant change.

I’ll be on tour with Rudy Royston and Ben Street this month, (please come if you can!), and we’ll be stopping in and talking with Kim Linzy at KUNV too:
MAY 14 Thurs at SF Jazz/Joe Henderson Lab / 8:00pm * San Francisco, CA / www.SFJazz.org
MAY 15 /16 Friday & Saturday at The Smith Center/7pm *Las Vegas, NV www.TheSmithCenter.com
MAY 17 Sunday at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill Jazz/7pm & 8:30 Bel Aire, CA / https://vibrato.herbalpertpresents.com

A couple new reviews too:
“Sensuously lyrical and improvisationally rich…” http://blogcritics.org/music-review-lisa-hilton-horizons/
“Her quintet (which includes all-stars Sean Jones, JD Allen, Gregg August and Rudy Royston) get every bit of lyricism out of every note”. http://www.birdistheworm.com/2015/04/09
“Lisa Hilton continues to rise up on the scale of musicians deserving of wider recognition.” Arturo Gomez/KUVO Radio
“Destined to be one of the top 10 albums of 2015! It fires on all cylinders.” Gary Lowe/WUNH Radio
“Absolutely incredible music and an album well worth your attention.” Hugh Carson/KVNF Radio
I really want to thank everyone, and wish everyone a great month!

Sincerely,
Lisa
https://www.facebook.com/LisaHiltonMusic

HORIZONS IS OUT!

April 8, 2015 by Lisa Hilton

Blog

Gregg August, jazz, JD Allen, lisa hilton, piano, Rudy Royston, Sean Jones, SFJazz, The Smith Center, Vibrato Grill Jazz

Hello and Happy April!

Hope you enjoyed a nice Holiday weekend. I was up in SF visiting family – catching a couple sunny days and a couple rainy ones. The BIG news here though, is that our new release, HORIZONS is Officially out as of today, April 7th! Yeah! After several months composing, a couple months post production, and then a few more months working on packaging and finishing it feels GREAT to share with the world. The experience is like a new baby or perhaps Christmas – there’s a lot of work and prep time that goes on for quite a while behind the scenes, and then you get to enjoy the experience. Each album is a bit different: HORIZONS features some new players: the clarion trumpet of Sean Jones (he also is head of the trumpet dept at Berklee College), Julliard trained bassist Gregg August and the ever inventive drummer, Rudy Royston. My favorite tenor sax player, JD Allen, is on this recoding as well. HORIZONS takes it’s inspiration from nature: when my life is touched by challenge I can find answers and peace by looking outside. Every day I see so much beauty, truth, and healing after difficulties in nature. In our highly tech world, I believe we need nature and art more than ever, so we have tried to explore these ideas musically through sound, melody and improvisation to create a sense of expansiveness, depth, beauty and hope for today and our future. There’s some terrific playing by the band, and I really think you’ll like of the tunes – a playlist of styles and moods so there’s something for everyone. You can hear references to Count Basie, Horace Silver, Satie or Duke Ellington, in my original compositions, but we also included covers of the Mancini classic, “Moon River” and the Black Keys, “Gold on the Ceiling” . Here’s our Official video: The Sky and the Ocean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WlTblOPs1c Some people have already started buying HORIZONS – thank you as always for your support. NEW and exciting this year: we have a 10 track vinyl option as well as the 12 track CD, or digital version. (Vinyl comes with a free download card as well). Here are the buy links: Amazon, CDBaby as well as downloads at iTunes and www.lisahiltonmusic.com . Kind words: “An intimate soundscape inspired by the forces of nature …an all star band.” Critical Jazz “A winning new release.” Time Out New York “The music is artfully constructed but delivers an affecting punch.” The New York Jazz City Record “Absolutely incredible music and an album well worth your attention.” Hugh Carson KVNF Radio. Thank you, and hope to see you soon – oh and please wish us luck on this! Take care, Lisa https://www.facebook.com/LisaHiltonMusic

PLEASE COME EXPERIENCE THE MUSIC LIVE:

MAY 14 Thursday at SF Jazz/Joe Henderson Lab 8:00pm * (Mark your calendar – this will be posted soon).

MAY 15 Friday at The Smith Center, Las Vegas/NV 7:00pm * http://www.thesmithcenter.com/calendar/
MAY 16/Saturday at The Smith Center, Las Vegas/NV 7:00 pm * http://www.thesmithcenter.com/calendar/
MAY 17/Sunday at Vibrato Grill Jazz/ L.A. 7:00 & 8:30 pm * https://vibrato.herbalpertpresents.com/show-calendar/ (I recommend calling for a table reservation: 310.474.9400)
* With Lisa Hilton/piano, Ben Street/bass & Rudy Royston/drums.
JAN 17, 2015/Sunday at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall/NYC 2:00 pm (Mark your calendar – this will be posted later in the year).
Photo by Steven Lippman See all tour dates: Tour For More information contact: www.lisahiltonmusic.com P.O. Box 6368, Malibu, CA 90264

Happy Summer Time!

June 1, 2013 by Lisa Hilton

Jazz

Getaway, Gregg August, Jaimeo Brown, jazz, radio, summer, The Smith Center, tour, trio

June_blog
Live at The Smith Center: Lisa Hilton, Gregg August & Jaimeo Brown

Summer started here with a BBQ last weekend after finishing up a fun tour with my trio. VERY enthusiastic audiences and a wonderful time performing with two terrific musicians. We were fortunate to get great reviews for our performances:

– Lisa Hilton is at her best when she is guiding us down the back roads of our own emotional geography. Sure, she can riff heavy on traditional jazz, swinging with …Vegas Seven

– Jazz Weekly

–Examiner.com

And a nice, new CD review: eJazzNews, as well as one in the new issue of Jazz Times.

We will tour again starting Oct. 21 in Chicago at The Green Mill and ending at Dizzy’s NYC Oct. 28th, 2013. We hope to add some more dates too. I’d also like to thank the schools that asked me to perform for their students at The Junior Blind of America, The Transfiguration School, and Viewpoint School.

We want to say THANK YOU RADIO FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT for the new release, “Getaway.” We are so appreciative of the warm response: last week #17 on the JazzWeek Radio Chart, and #10 on the ZMR Radio Chart, and a few weeks back #11 on the CMJ college jazz radio chart – with over 200 stations around the world playing our recording. Thank you very, very much. Please continue… tunes like “Getaway” and “Stepping Into Paradise” really set the mood for summer, don’t you agree? In fact the Lisa Hilton Getaway sounds like a vacation right there doesn’t it! It’s always a lot of work to produce a CD, but the many, many great reviews and strong radio play have been wonderful.

So what’s up for the summer? I do have a family trip planned starting later this week, and when I return I will be “exploring” on the piano – my favorite thing to do in the summers musically – I like playing different composers and trying new ideas out. I do have two different directions for new releases, so we’ll see what pops out from those ideas. My first week off, I just needed to get my studio back in order – lots of music to organize after the last five months of hard work, so for now it just feels good to have everything cleaned up! A luxury with our busy lives these days, isn’t it? I also hope to get to one or two jazz festivals as a fan this summer – my favorite way to spend a day!

Take care and I hope your summer plans will be fun as well, and filled with great music.

Lisa

Winter Weather??

At Perkins School for the Blind/Boston. Photo by David Gordon

Hi there!

I have heard the news reports of the super chill happening in the midwest and east, but I’m not feeling that on the west coast – it has been hot, hot, HOT here! It’s really lovely, but running the air conditioning in January just seems silly but it’s over 84 degrees inside! Whew!

Had a wonderful birthday – my favorite card was from a hand made card from Junior Blind of America – very sweet for them to send a card to “Miss Lisa”. I enjoyed family visiting and also a great dinner out in downtown Los Angeles at cool spot Church & State. Then off to NYC for the Jazz Connect, Winter Jazz Fest and APAP convention. It was fun to see so many friends and of course tons of music. I really enjoyed my favorite sax man, JD Allen playing with a great drummer, Jaimeo Brown guitarist Chris Sholar – very interesting project at Zinc Bar. Had my own performance at Steinway Hall, and then caught pianist Fred Hersch with guitarist phenom, Julian Lage right after me. Steinway Hall is such a beautiful and historic building with a domed main floor -it is a treat just being there. Had time to squeeze in MOMA, and a nice dinner at Catch NY trying out Top Chef winner Hung Huynh’s signature scallops and cauliflower dish – yummy!

It was great to find out that “American Impressions” is a qualifier for the ZMR awards for 3 categories: Album of the Year, Best Instrumental/Piano, and Best Contemporary Instrumental. How nice! Please keep me in mind when if you are a voter!

Of course most of my time right now is going into creating new music for a new recording hopefully out in April of this year. It is always a lot of work, yet really my favorite thing to do. Please send good wishes our way. 🙂 I will be debuting/previewing some of the new music this Sunday, Jan 27th at Vibrato Jazz Grill in West Los Angeles: http://www.vibratogrilljazz.com/calendar/index.php . This club, created by Herb Alpert, is very beautiful and well laid out for an intimate evening of music and dinner if you choose. I know it’s not happening until spring, but you might want to plan ahead to go to the recently opened, The Smith Center in Las Vegas: http://www.thesmithcenter.com/events/dates/2013-05-17/ I have heard that this is an amazing new performance venue, so I’m excited to be there Friday and Saturday May 17 & 18 with my trio. If you haven’t been to Vegas for while it might be fun to plan ahead and see the new venue, see other shows and just check out what’s new.

Take care and hope the winter weather gets better!