WIN - Jazz FM's Album of the Week
We're giving away five copies of Lizz Wright's new album ‘Shadow'
Acclaimed vocalist Lizz Wright embraces her newfound freedom with a classic recording that encapsulates an illustrious 20-year career since the release of her debut album, Salt (Verve, 2003). Shadow is Wright's studio debut on her label Blues & Greens Records (with licensing/distribution through Lightyear Entertainment/Virgin Music), and the eleven-track album, which celebrates intimacy, loss, community, and healing, is set to solidify Wright as one of the great modern American singers.
Alongside five original compositions - "Root of Mercy," "Circling," "This Way," "Sparrow" which features Angelique Kidjo and "Your Love" with Meshell Ndegeocello – Shadow features Wright’s singular renditions of songs by Cole Porter, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Sandy Denny, Candi Staton, Toshi Reagon, and Caitlin Canty.
Wright invited her musical family to Chicago to record with renowned engineer Ryan Freeland (he recorded her latest studio album, Grace) -- who recently
engineered Bonnie Raitt's GRAMMY Award-winner, Just Like That. Shadow was produced by longtime collaborator/music director Chris Bruce (Seal, Bettye LaVette, Sheryl Crow) and was executive produced by Lizz Wright. Other performers and collaborators include Adam Levy, Lynne Earls, Justin Hicks, Morley Kamen, Jack DeBoe, Ben Zwerin, Kenny Banks Sr., Glenn Patscha, Deantoni
Parks, and Rashaan Carter. Featured contributions also include violinist Trina Basu and Carnatic violinist Arun Ramamurthy, harpist Brandee Younger, composer Hanna Benn, and Chicago-based string players.
Without A&R reps and the pressures that inherently come from record labels wanting artists to fit into a specific genre, Wright makes the album she's always wanted to record. Anchored by acoustic guitar and bare emotion, Shadow presents Wright in a gentle and triumphant light.
Wright says of Shadow, "It finally came to be my turn to lose a defining love in my life, my grandmother Martha. Something about the way she loved me gave me the backbone to stand and sing in front of rooms of strangers all these years and never feel alone. She made the world seem small and warm. Watching her long transition made me think about the impression that her love has left on me and what I was going to do with it. Shadow is the result of patiently feeling and exploring grief while also celebrating the kind of love that becomes more apparent and powerful in the presence of loss and uncertainty."
Chris Bruce comments, "Shadow is a new chapter for Lizz Wright and we're very clearly articulating her vision with diverse layers of music threaded together on the album. She's an innovator that carries a much-needed spirit of humanity and energy in her music. People really respond to the calm and joy she brings. Lizz will always be able to reinvent herself in the best ways and this truly is among her greatest gifts."
ALBUM OF THE WEEK COMPETITION ENTRY
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