The intense, striking voice of this young woman from Georgia will be one of the highlights of the 23rd edition of the Malaga Jazz Festival. Teatro Cervantes will receive this fragile, yet resounding contralto on November 13th in an intimate and spiritual atmosphere.

Lizz Wright was born on January 22, 1980 in Hahira, Georgia, the cradle of jazz. At the age of six she was already accompanying her preacher father, her mother her two older brothers singing gospel music during church services. After discovering jazz through pianist Marian McPartland on National Public Radio, she began participating in the jam sessions of Atlanta group In the Spirit.

The next step in her progressing career was her participation in the July 2002 tribute to Billie Holiday held at Chicago Orchestra Hall. 24 hours later a star was born following her performance of I Cover the Waterfront and Don’t Explain, which brought tears to the eyes of all those present.

“The great discovery of that night was Lizz Wright, who showed us a degree of spirituality we don’t often find in young jazz musicians,” write Howard Reich, music critic for The Chicago Tribune. He added that “Wright so easily justified the emotion that has been brewing in the world of jazz thanks to her easy rhythms, heartfelt performance and low, resonant sounds.”

As a result she made her recording debut with Verve in 2003 with her album Salt, co-produced by the charismatic Tommy Lipuma and prodigious drummer and composer Brian Blade. She has since earned recognition as one of the most highly-regarded emerging jazz stars, both as a songwriter and as a versatile and highly expressive singer.

Following her second album, Dreaming Wide Awake (2005), Lizz will come to Malaga to present her new release, The Orchard, yet another illustration of her quality as a singer-songwriter. Intimate renditions full of spontaneity and vigour and lacking in unnecessary technological displays comprise the spirit of this new album by Lizz Wright, recorded in Tucson, Arizona and Brooklyn.

www.teatrocervantes.com
www.lizzwright.net