Lizz Wright

Lizz Wright synthesizes jazz, gospel, folk, blues, and soul with a full contralto voice that soothes whether the subject is romance, faith, loss, or everyday reflection. The singer/songwriter came up in the church in rural Georgia and was deeply involved with choirs before she made her commercial debut as a featured vocalist on Joe Sample’s The Pecan Tree. Salt (2003), her remarkably accomplished first album on Verve, put her in the upper reaches of Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart. Following a three-album run with Verve Forecast that concluded with the gospel-oriented Fellowship (2010), a number two entry on the main jazz chart, Wright recorded for Concord, where she issued Freedom & Surrender (2015) and Grace (2017). She then went independent and started her Blues & Greens label the next decade with Holding Space (2022), her first live recording, trailed by Shadow (2024), one of her bluesier studio efforts. Wright, born Elizabeth LaCharla Wright in Hahira, Georgia, developed her passion for music early in life. Her father served as the pianist and musical director at the local church, and encouraged his daughter to absorb classic hymns. Eventually, Wright added blues and jazz to her musical palette, and by high school she was earning awards in choir competitions. She attended Georgia State in Atlanta to study voice, and in 2000 joined the vocal quartet In the Spirit. The group was quickly hailed as the best jazz vocal ensemble in the city, which motivated Wright to hone her craft all the more. Two years later, she appeared on Joe Sample’s The Pecan Tree as the featured vocalist on “No One But Myself to Blame” and “Fool’s Gold.” Signed to Verve as a solo artist, she made her full-length debut in 2003 with Salt, produced by Tommy LiPuma, drummer Brian Blade, and keyboardist Joe Cowherd. Its refined mix of self-composed material (“Salt,” “Silence”) and wide-ranging interpretations (“Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly,” “Walk with Me, Lord”) set the tone for Wright’s career and reached number two on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart. Wright soon voiced the title song on Danilo Perez’s ...Till Then. For her second album, Wright moved from Verve to help relaunch the eclectic Verve Forecast subsidiary. Dreaming Wide Awake, her second album, arrived in 2005 with production from Craig Street and a core band consisting of bassist David Piltch, drummer Earl Harvin, and keyboardist Glenn Patscha, as well as guitarist Chris Bruce, with whom Wright would continue to collaborate long term. The standout “Hit the Ground” marked the start of an association with songwriter and background vocalist Toshi Reagon, while “I’m Confessin’” became one of Wright’s most popular standard updates. The Orchard, another set produced by Craig Street, was issued in 2008. Wright and Reagon co-wrote six of its songs, highlighted by “My Heart.” Among the covers were Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You” and Sweet Honey in the Rock’s “Hey Mann” (written by Reagon’s mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon). The material Wright handled for her featured appearances before the end of the decade was similarly diverse. It included James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight” (David Sanborn’s Closer), Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Come Rain or Come Shine” (Toots Thielemans’ One More for the Road), the Band’s “Whispering Pines” (a duet with Jakob Dylan), and Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas’ “I Wish I Knew (How It Feels to Be Free)” (with Marcus Printup and Takana Miyamoto). Wright started the 2010s with a number two hit on Billboard’s jazz chart, though The Fellowship strongly affirmed the singer’s gospel roots; it drew from the songbooks of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Joan Wasser (aka Joan as Police Woman), and was led by “(I’ve Got to Use My) Imagination,” originally recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips. The album was produced by Brian Bacchus and Toshi Reagon, and assorted support came from the likes of Bernice Johnson Reagon (background vocals), Meshell Ndegeocello (who played bass on two songs and wrote one of them), and Angélique Kidjo (vocals on two songs). Wright then recorded a pair of albums on Concord. Preceded by featured roles on projects by the likes of Ndegeocello and Terri Lyne Carrington, Freedom & Surrender, produced by Larry Klein, landed in 2015. It contained a duet with Gregory Porter on “Right Where You Are” and an atmospheric reading of Nick Drake’s “River Man.” Next came 2017′s Grace, produced by Joe Henry. (Wright covered Henry’s “Stop” on her second album.) An American South-themed set, it saw Wright update Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights,” Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey’s “Singing in My Soul,” and Ray Charles’ “What Would I Do Without You,” and closed with “All the Way Here,” written by Wright and Maia Sharp. After her stints with Verve and Concord, Wright established her own label, Blues & Greens Records. A 2018 date at Berlin’s Columbia Theatre, for which she was backed by a quartet of Chris Bruce (guitar), Ivan Edwards (drums), Bobby Ray Sparks II (keyboards), and Ben Zwerin (bass), was recorded as Holding Space, released in 2022. Two years later, coinciding with what she acknowledged as her 25th year as a professional singer, Wright returned with Shadow. Wright and Bruce teamed as co-producers, and Wright co-wrote several of the highlights, such as “Your Love,” featuring Meshell Ndegeocello on bass and Brandee Younger on harp, and “Root of Mercy,” written in honor of Wright’s grandmother. ~ Andy Kellman