Lisa Hilton\u2019s 14th album as a leader features band members J.D. Allen on tenor saxophone, Larry Grenadier on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums. The pianist\/composer\/producer focuses on impressions of everyday life in America in 10 songs she has written for this project. The ensemble also performs great cover s of Duke Ellington\u2019s classic \u201cEchoes of Harlem,\u201d and Joni Mitchell\u2019s \u201cRainy Night House.\u201d Hilton uses her exemplary pianism and soloing from her bandmates to change the moods in these compositions. For example, \u201cToo Hot\u201d opens with her prominent melodic phrases before J.D. Allen\u2019s raises the temperature with his scorching and sensual tenor saxophone phrases. <\/p>\n
Their harmonic and rhythmic language is more complex and richer on \u201cAnatomy of the Blues,\u201d in which bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Nasheet Waits lay down a carpet of rhythm for Allen and Hilton who express the main musical landmarks in the piece with exceptional skill. Lisa Hilton\u2019s depiction of raindrops in \u201cWhen It Rains\u201d is simply beautiful. She captures the lightness of quickly falling drops with nimble trills that imitate the falling rain. By contrast, the technique she uses to reveal the hurried feeling of passengers making their way to the \u201cSubway\u201d explains why Lisa Hilton\u2019s fans are blown away by her virtuosity. <\/p>\n
Overall, the various moods and impressions are all presented with impeccable clarity that you are sure to enjoy. American Impressions is a valuable offering filled with great ideas and exemplary instrumental performances by musicians who show a mastery of their special characteristics and techniques.<\/p>\n
[sotj]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lisa Hilton\u2019s 14th album as a leader features band members<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8636"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8685,"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8636\/revisions\/8685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}