When I think of Lizz Wright’s singing I
think of a voice steeped in the melancholy of the blues, a voice so smoky she
should move to Craster and produce kippers. It is a rich, deep voice, capable
of a caress and a shout, one for the small hours and for the streets. She seems
to sit outside the canon of the greats of jazz singing in a lineage that would
include Nina Simone, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Cassandra Williams.
This album has protest songs, celebrations of love and joy and, in her cover of Sandy Denny’s Who Knows Where the Time Goes, reflections on a life passed by. It is one of a few covers that include folk songs, modern gospel and country. Her voice is front and centre with the arrangements supportive, rarely allowing the instruments to come forth. Even the richest arrangement, on No More Will I Run seem to wrap up her voice in a blanket that lifts it higher so she is always riding above the band.
Lost in The Valley is a song of
hope as the protagonist climbs from the valley to the sky. It too has its roots
in gospel; the church organ shares the musical lead with Ramamurthy’s Carnatic
violin but it is the power of Wright’s vocals that carry it.
First track, Sparrow, opens
with a pulsing heartbeat in intricate guitar, but the voice when it comes drags
as if Wright has her own time. Her plea to “Let it Rain” is probably not what
the denizens of these rain sodden isles want to hear right now but her follow
up instruction to the rain that it should “Pain wash away ….We’re gonna rise up
singing” is more supportable. A beautiful violin line behind her voice adds
colour and depth and the panoramic vision is further enhance by Kidjo’s African
wails.
Your Love is a
celebration of a love that has her singing all day and constantly moving in the
joy of it. It’s lush and rich and all enveloping. It wraps you up and glows.
The pace slows for Root of Mercy. A slower gospel infused
piece that has Wright singing over her own looped voice. Sweet
Feeling is a Candi Staton song of lost love; Wright powers through
over a swirling organ and thumping drums. Her voice is deep and rich. Even
though it is a slow blues and she pours it out strongly, there is still that
forlorn ache, albeit one that fills a room.
A rare foray into the Great American
Songbook sees a cover of Cole Porter’s I Concentrate on You. Slowed
down to a funereal pace, every word is lengthened and feeling is wrung out of
each one. Wright rides the melody line across her full range soaring into a
higher register before falling back to her trademark mellowness.
Those of us of advancing age who
hold Who Knows Where the Time Goes in the highest regard are
especially sensitive about interpretations of it. Lizz Wright’s version is
beautiful with a simple stripped back arrangement. The bass carries the weight
and all that melancholy and sorrow of reflection is carried to us by the
emotion in her voice. Remarkably Denny wrote this when she was only 19. Wright
is older and carries those extra years of life as lived into her performance.
Closer, Gillian Welch’s I Made
a Lover's Prayer turns tragedy into hope. The sadness is in the vocals
and the joy and hope are in the instruments as first, the Hammond organ and,
later, the strings lift us back out of the valley.
Shadow is Lizz Wright’s
first release on her new Blues & Greens Record label. The album is
distributed by Virgin and is available from all the usual places that you buy
your music. Dave Sayer
Lizz Wright (vocals); Adam Levy (guitars); Chris Bruce (guitars, keyboards); Rashaan Carter (bass); Deantoni Parks (drums); Abe Rounds (percussion); Kenny Banks Sr. (piano); Glenn Patscha (piano, Rhodes, B3); Arun Ramamurthy (Carnatic violin); Trina Basu (violin); Lynne Earls (Wurlitzer, baritone acoustic guitar) Melissa Bach (cello); Katherine Hughes (violin); Jeff Yang (viola); plus guests Angelique Kidjo (vocals); Brandee Younger (harp); Meshell Ndegeocello (bass).
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