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Lisa Hilton

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Contacts

Publicists:
Don Lucoff 

Booking:
Lisa Hilton

Website:
LisaHiltonMusic.com

Production Company:
Ruby Slippers Productions

Social Media:
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More Than Anther Day is the latest jazz release from composer/pianist/producer, Lisa Kristine Hilton. Hilton and her longstanding band mates: Rudy Royston on drums, and Luques Curtis on bass, as well as the imposing JD Allen on tenor sax, had just finished the first half of their tour for their 2020 album, Chalkboard Destiny, when the corona virus forced a shut - down of the tour, and of course a lockdown in the U.S. Grounded and worried for a relative stuck and sick in Italy, Hilton did what she’s always done: “I have always turned to my creativity in difficult times. I think it’s how I process what is happening in our world.” As for the effects of the lockdown? “I grew up in a small town where it seemed nothing ever happened. Creative projects flourish in “down” times– I think quiet propels creativity.” 
 
More Than Another Day opens up with the title track showcasing the creative range of Hilton and her trio. Seamlessly moving through different rhythmic ideas, genres and eras, Royston and Curtis provide stellar additions to Hilton’s nine compositions and one cover tune. The trio powers through the upbeat and swinging Retro Road Trip. With its groovy riffs, this might just be the feel good track you’ve been waiting for. Secret Beach, Karma Chaos and Cole Porter’s I’ve Got You Under My Skin, all exude refreshing Latin ideas. Blues & Beauty captures the moods we’ve been encountering this year with Hilton’s expressive and bluesy piano, but also surprises the listener with serenity and beauty as well. The ballads, No Sleep Until…, Today I Looked At Love and So This Is Love give the album a rich balance of emotions and harmonic colors as well. If you listen carefully, you can pick up Hilton’s range of style influences – Antonio Carlos Jobim and Count Basie perhaps, but also Bill Evans comes to mind.  This is music for today, for this year, and of course, for More Than Another Day.
 
About Lisa K. Hilton
 
Lisa Kristine Hilton is a distinctive composer of jazz, as well as an acclaimed pianist. Growing up in a small town on California’s central coast, she originally taught herself to play piano with a colored keyboard guide, writing her first simple songs around six years, before beginning studies in classical and twentieth century music starting at the age of eight. In college she switched majors from music and graduated instead with a degree in art. Hilton’s art background informs her compositions: she describes “painting” compositions using improvisation, and harmony or “sculpting” with constantly changing rhythmic ideas from different cultures.
 
Hilton’s music draws on classical traditions, and twentieth century modernists as well as classic American jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Horace Silver, as well as blues heroes Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. A prolific and passionate composer as well as an accomplished producer, Hilton has recorded about 300 tracks. In the book, “The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today’s Living Legends and Artists of Tomorrow” by Cicly Janus, it states that Hilton has been “compared to some of the best pianists in history.” 
 
Hilton often speaks of the profound imbalance of jazz and classical music presented in great concert halls, opera theaters and clubs where the vast majority of music heard is written by male composers: “The music created by women should also be performed, to be enjoyed by audiences around the world.” Hilton also regularly works with students who are visually disabled across the US stating: “Music should be for everyone.”

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  • AVAILABLE NOW: Lisa Hilton | “More Than Another Day” | Ruby Slipper Productions - Lisa Hilton Presents More Than Another Day Available Now via Ruby Slipper Productions Hilton Offers a Creative and Expansive New Album  Teeming With Original Compositions Featuring  Rudy Royston and Luques Curtis   “Attention grabbing!!” – KVNF Radio “Impressions of color and depth.” – JazzWeekly   “A smoking trio date but what it really is a tour de force for…
  • AVAILABLE NOW: Lisa Hilton’s “Chalkboard Destiny | Ruby Slipper Productions - AVAILABLE NOW: Lisa Hilton Redefines Her Path with New Album Chalkboard Destiny via Ruby Slipper Productions “We live in an exciting time of constant change…” is the introductory quote from composer and acclaimed pianist Lisa Hilton in the liner notes for her new release Chalkboard Destiny, recorded with jazz luminaries JD Allen on tenor sax, Rudy Royston on drums and Luques Curtis on bass. It’s an appropriate prelude…
  • Lisa Hilton | “Chalkboard Destiny” on Ruby Slipper Productions - Lisa Hilton Redefines Her Path with Latest Album Chalkboard Destiny Available December 6 via Ruby Slipper Productions Hilton is Joined by J.D. Allen, Rudy Royston and Luques Curtis   “WOW! A quantum leap compositionally, as well as the overall aura.  Hilton has an absolutely unique and beautiful sound – fast or slow – BRAVO!” – Hugh Carson, KVNF Radio “My favorite album we’ve…
  • AVAILABLE NOW: Lisa Hilton | “OASIS” | Ruby Slippers Productions - Available Now on Ruby Slippers Productions: Lisa Hilton Forges Safe Haven During Tumultuous Times with New Release OASIS “Hilton’s melodies frequently blend the two-handed punch of Horace Silver with the moodiness of McCoy Tyner…” – Stereogum “Hilton’s music is picturesque and impressionistic… the pianist has excellent technique.” – DownBeat An enticing oasis pulsing with West Coast cool energy is…
  • Lisa Hilton | “OASIS” | Available December 7 via Ruby Slippers Productions - Lisa Hilton Forges Safe Haven During Tumultuous Times with New Release OASIS Album Available December 7 via Ruby Slippers Productions “Hilton’s melodies frequently blend the two-handed punch of Horace Silver with the moodiness of McCoy Tyner…” – Stereogum “Hilton’s music is picturesque and impressionistic…the pianist has excellent technique.” – Downbeat An enticing oasis pulsing with West…
  • AVAILABLE NOW: Lisa Hilton -“Escapism”- Ruby Slippers Productions - Out Today on Ruby Slippers Productions    Lisa Hilton Sets Forth On A  Journey Promoting Peace, Tranquility and  Positive Energy with Escapism  Lisa Hilton often settles in at her piano and riffs on everyone from Miles Davis and Horace Silver to The Black Keys and Green Day, until she can find peace within the notes, letting them fill the…
  • Lisa Hilton – “Escapism” – Available December 1 on Ruby Slippers Productions - Lisa Hilton Sets Forth On A Journey Promoting  Peace, Tranquility and Positive Energy with Escapism –  Available December 1 on Ruby Slippers Productions    Lisa Hilton often settles in at her piano and riffs on everyone from Miles Davis and Horace Silver to The Black Keys and Green Day, until she can find peace within the notes,…

“CHALKBOARD DESTINY” REVIEWS

#1 Amazon New Release – Cool Jazz

#2 ZMR International Radio/Streaming Chart

#11 Jazz Week Jazz Chart

#52 Spanish iTunes Chart

#73 iTunes Portugal Chart for ‘Café au Mojo’

 

"WOW!  Hilton has an absolutely unique and beautiful sound and regardless of the tempo, she has an irresistible momentum and brilliant phrasing.  Chalkboard Destiny is one of the top ten jazz albums I have ever heard…just the unvarnished truth.” KVNF Radio

 

"Hilton remains firmly rooted in modernist technique, mastering each tune with elegance and edginess….This is a strong quartet; each musician showcases his or her own creative energy and when they come together, nothing but virtuoso madness results….Hilton has a knack for writing original compositions that expand the traditional pianist spectrum.”  Jazz Times

 

“Chalkboard Destiny and the quartet Hilton calls her own—drummer Rudy Royston, bassist Luques Curtis and JD Allen on tenor sax—create a vibe which is really hard to turn away from. Just press play anywhere on the disc and you won't be disappointed in any way. Just the opposite, to be exact. For there is a richness to the sound of four people playing music meant to capture your attention, as Hilton's intrigue makes her compositions more malleable than ever, opening time and space for her and her cohorts to re-imagine and define. "Chalkboard Destiny," "Temporary Lullaby," and the elastic emotionality of Joni Mitchell's "Blue Boy" are the heart and soul of the disc, and what any listener of this grand language comes to the music for. The quiet depth achieved on "Temporary Lullaby" simply has to be heard, not spoken or written about. The quartet's expansive rendering of the fifty-year-old "Blue Boy" only proves that we share the same heart here, then, now, and forever.  Hilton packs a lot into small spaces…a recording that is simply one of the best of the year.”  All About Jazz/ Mike Jurkovich

 

One of the Best Releases of 2018 All About Jazz

TOP 5 JAZZ ARTISTS OF 2018 FemMusic.com

ARTIST OF THE MONTH / DECEMBER 2018 Sounds of Timeless Jazz

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“Like whispers of a better place just around the corner if you’re prepared to take the ride, the tunes of West Coast mainstay and prolific pianist/composer Lisa Hilton’s exciting, well paced OASIS work their way into your listening space and take up residence…. Hilton’s active left hand teams brilliantly with the resilient give and take and formidable chops of bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Mark Whitley Jr.”  - All About Jazz

“Reliably exceptional – that is how I would describe Lisa Hilton. … Her composing and performance could be described as existing between impressionism and expressionism, but the one thing all her performances have is a heartbeat.  Swinging-ly grounded in the beat she establishes is where Hilton’s charm shines the brightest.” - All About Jazz

“Some of the same insouciant spirit as much of Paul Desmond.” - Arts Journal

"'Oasis' is freedom and lyrical art. It overflows with Hilton’s somersaulting narrative, lyricism in every note, turning and churning in on itself — expressed with thought, clarity, and the fusion of movement and texture. Hilton slips in a whirlwind of feeling in “Watercolor World,” as a painter would to her canvas — in splashes and spurts, behind your back. The composition unravels in ever-shifting threads, which she seems to brush and stroke back into a semblance of orderly life. Her aerial lifts bank up against contrasting, darker chords for that subtle textural context she’s known for.” - Festival Peak

“Lisa Hilton shows her impressive composing skills as well as ability to create a sonic mood.  She’s able to mix classical impressionistic moods a la Debussy, but with a swinging pulse.”  Jazz Weekly

“Pulsing with a West Coast cool energy.” - Jazziz Magazine

“Hilton takes it old school with a cool school set…the vibe is low key and the notes get your head bobbing.  Mighty chops and good taste…another winner from a winner herself.” Midwest Record

“Hilton shows off her left-handed dexterity, while her right hand improvises brightly. Mark Whitfield Jr., keeps the trap drums strong beneath her up-tempo prowess. Luques Curtis, on bass, locks into the production to bring solid support.” - Musical Memoirs

“Throughout the musicianship is excellent.  The songs are melodious, memorable and swinging…add this to your must-hear list.” - New York City Jazz Record

“Beautiful sounds & clever but informative repartee – Hilton continued to draw undivided attention to her introspective playing style as well as the layers and layers of piano virtuosity.” - Sounds of Timeless Jazz

“The new trio brilliantly showcase their collective abilities. OASIS has many merits: Lisa Hilton provides her stunning virtuosity beautifully and exquisitely” Sounds of Timeless Jazz

“Lisa Hilton is one of the most famous composers and pianists in modern jazz.” - Video Heart/Vietnam

Lisa-Hilton-More-Than-Cover

More Than Another Day

ITUNES AMAZON

Record Label: Ruby Slippers Productions
Release Date: December 4, 2020