My longtime collaborator: composer and master engineer Jim Gardiner - see myspace.com/touchtonehits for more about him. Wayne Wallace, Scott R. Looney, and Bevan Manson also are treasured collaborators. I've performed with (and recorded with some of) these musicians: Frank Martin, Ben Flint, Adam Shulman, and Murray Low on piano/keys; Chris Amberger, Troy Lampkins, Jeremy Cohen, Aaron Shaul, John Shifflett, Curtis Ohlson, Bill Douglass, Frank Thibeaux, and Fred Randolph on bass; Paul van Wageningen, Bryan Bowman, Alan Hall, and Sameer Gupta on drums; John Santos and Michael Spiro on percussion; Dave Yamasaki, Mimi Fox, and Danny Caron on guitar; Rock Hendricks, Tod Dickow, and Tony Malfatti on sax (and the latter on background vocals too); and Daria, Ashling Cole, Sanda Cressman, Sandy Griffiths, and Nikita Germaine on background vocals.
Influences
John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Leonard Bernstein (no relation), Stephen Sondheim, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Joseph Jarman, Carmen McRae, Aretha, Billie, Sarah Vaughn, Sheila Jordan, Shirley Horn, Chick Corea, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, Tracy Nelson, the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, CSNY, Howlin' Wolf, Led Zeppelin, Jackie McLean, Tito Puente, Herbie Hancock, Leon Thomas, Archie Shepp, Jeanne Lee, Chaka Kahn, Rachelle Farrell, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Cole Porter, Joni Mitchell, Los Van Van, Kurt Elling, Luther Vandross, Burt Bacharach, Ronald Isley, Bonnie Raitt, Jobim, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Joe Williams, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Poulenc, Debussy, Stravinsky, Monk, Quincy Jones, Gil Scott-Heron, Salt-N-Pepa, Earth Wind & Fire, Prince, Eric B & Rakim, Lisa Stansfield, Audra McDonald, Tower of Power, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, the Last Poets. ~ Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov, William Carlos Williams, Charles Simic, Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, James Wright, Song of Songs, Carl Jung, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, E.M. Forster, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, George Herbert, John Donne, Adrienne Rich, Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Emily Dickinson, Robert Duncan, Robert Graves, Primo Levi, Andre Schwarz-Bart, Grace Paley, Laurie Colwin, Karl Marx, Barbara Ehrenreich, Riane Eisler, W.S. Merwin, fairy tales.
Singer-songwriter-poet Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) creates Playful, poetic rap and sultry choruses over jazzy hip-hop grooves!
If you want to know who she sounds like, start by imagining Joni Mitchell + Jill Scott + Diana Krall + the Verve Remix series. Then listen for yourself.
Lisa B is a pioneer in interweaving poetic rap and spoken word within her originals and new versions of standards/covers. Her spoken word draws you in with crystal-clear imagery, storytelling, and a voice that seems to speak directly to you.
And she can sing. Noted jazz critic Ted Panken writes, "Her voice is a lovely instrument...and she possesses an emotional range that makes lyrics sound like truth."
Fun, insightful, & intimate, Lisa B will inspire you to dance, chill, listen and find your very own poetry of groove.
~~~~ Lisa B is the author of the poetry books The Transparent Body (Wesleyan University Press), Anorexia (Five Fingers Press), and poems in many prestigious literary magazines. She has won creative writing grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and is an educator in poetry, lyrics, and performance to college students and kids.
~~~~ Each of Lisa B's three CDs was heard on more than 120 radio stations across the U.S. and internationally, including heavy rotation and charting, in jazz, college, smooth jazz, adult alternative, and women's formats. Based in Oakland, California, Lisa B performs widely with her trio.
SOUNDBITES FROM CRITICS:
~~~~ Jonathan Takiff, PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS: "Daring, dexterous singer/songwriter/poet Lisa B catches 'The Center of the Rhyme,' an imaginative set of originals with appeal to both traditional and contemporary jazz tastes and even, on occasion, hip-hop hipsters."
~~~~ ALL MUSIC GUIDE: "Lisa B's mix of spoken word poetry (think rap for the uptown swing crowd) and passionate jazzy, high-register vocalizing is …hard to resist.”
~~~~ JAZZ TIMES: “A singer, spoken-word artist and poet with an incisive way of chronicling situations, memories, and emotions… a pliable, expressive voice dipped in blue… saucily suggestive… imagistic…”
~~~~ JAZZIZ, Women in Jazz Issue: “Great pipes… talented songwriter.”
SOUNDBITES ON "WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT?":
~~~~~JAZZUSA.COM: “...a great set that delivers a view into the nine lives and times of a jazz cat… Lisa’s voice is flexible and harmonious, beautifully altering between the highs and lows of her sympatico range...a hip listen!”
~~~~SOUNDSTAGE.COM: "Sultry and witty and not at all precious...Her own songs are fun and sexy, and she brings a fresh voice to well-known songs... I play it all the time, and like it more with each listen... impressively played and sung."
~~~~ALL MUSIC GUIDE: "...she is really singing about human situations on jazzy, playful originals... infectious... memorable and clever." ~~~~
~~~~TALKINBROADWAY.COM: “The inclusion of two Cole Porter songs is what attracted me to this album... Then, my ear was caught, too...”
~~~~MIDWEST RECORD RECAP: "Lisa B is a wild ride...the two of you become old friends and you are satisfied to let her entertain you...you don't trip over pipes like these everyday."
ON LISA B'S PERFORMANCES:
~~~~Michael Ross, msnbc.com, Vibe, Entertainment Weekly: “…an iconoclastic poet, vocalist, and tunesmith who can work a room with energy…Like Joni Mitchell, she knows the value of lyrics that summon visions instead of cliches…”
~~~~Gary Hamada, Jazz and Blues Company/KRML-FM, Concert Manager: "She totally captivated the audience. She is an originator, her arrangements are mesmerizing, and her band is great!"
Wishing a brilliant 2009 to Lisa brilliant. You are poetry and jazz exemplified my talented darlin even though the pigeon holes don't matter a jot. Keep doin what you do Dave xx
Thanks for friendship and and your kind words...it's nice to meet you. I appreciate you including me in your circle of friends here on MySpace. Enjoyed the listen and hope to catch you live sometime. Stay creative and have a great weekend!
Are you sure you don't want someone to keep you up all night long anymore? You sure sing like you do. What a concert! I love the way you began with the very first song you wrote and how you interwove slam poetry with sultry seductions—and your trio was superb. Loved the pianist. And loved your outfit. It was fun to create our girls corner, a lisa b fan club. Take care, Katia
