Lisa Hilton Music

Musician Bios:

Lisa Hilton / Bio

With what has been described as a “throbbing undercurrent of West Coast Cool”, critically acclaimed composer and pianist, Lisa Hilton has been compared favorably to such diverse pianists as Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver and Brad Mehldau, but Hilton’s sound and touch are completely her own. Since 1997 Hilton has recorded and produced an album a year of her compositions and arrangements for solo piano, trio, and as a leader for her band. Dubbed by JazzReview a “lioness of jazz”, she works with some of the greatest musicians in jazz: Christian McBride, Lewis Nash, Bobby Militello, Larry Grenadier, Jeremy Pelt, Reggie McBride, J.D. Allen, Tal Bergman, to name a few, and her current band is comprised of all Down Beat Magazine Critics Choice Award Winners. Hilton has produced five of her eleven releases with the legendary, eighteen time Grammy award winning engineer/producer, Al Schmitt. Based in Malibu, California, Hilton’s fluid, expressive playing style has a blues inflected and refreshing Pacific Coast vibe that has been influenced by other one time Malibu residents: Miles Davis, and Stan Getz. One of the few women producers working in jazz, she also runs her own publishing company to oversee 130+ recorded tracks. She has received various awards and nominations for her compositions.

Growing up in Southern Californian, Hilton first taught herself to play and compose simple pieces before starting formal education in classical and twentieth century piano literature at the age of eight. Voracious about music, she accompanied on the piano for the school chorus and theatre productions, played flute in the band, and in high school started composing blues riffs on the side. But college was an entirely different experience: while studying in San Francisco with a well - known and exacting performer, Hilton became disillusioned with the classical canon. At nineteen, Hilton packed up: leaving college, the piano, and her passion, eventually graduating with a degree in art. It wasn’t until 1997 that her interest was re-ignited to return to composing and the piano. “It was difficult to leave music, my first love, but it did enable me to study art”, responds Hilton. “Now my art is my music; now my passions are combined.”
Performances: Hilton loves to perform: “I have a need to share our world musically. I have an incredible band, but the solo shows that I do also go over really well with audiences”. Hilton explains how her compositions or arrangements were inspired, to draw listeners in to her instrumental jazz. “I’ve had adults ecstatically proclaim that they could really hear what I was communicating – that they could really ‘get it!’ Others have been moved to tears, or call an evening ‘magical’, and then I’ve had teens shout out ‘YOU ROCK!’ Touching others musically is really what I desire to do.”

Radio: Hilton’s music is played on hundreds of radio stations in the U.S., Canada and around the world, and has been featured prominently on shows like NPR’s Morning Edition, various airlines and XM. Broadly appealing to all ages, Hilton’s albums appear on radio charts for JazzWeek, College Media Journal (CMJ), Earshot Jazz/Canada, SmoothJazz.com and New Age Reporter.

Television: Hilton has been featured on CBS/Boston and WGN/Chicago.

Written Word: A published author, Lisa Hilton has also written for Jazz Times and Jazziz magazine. She is currently working on a book about musicianship, and has been interviewed for the upcoming Random House book, “The New Face of Jazz”, by Cicily Janus. She has had a music blog on her website since 2001.

Workshops: Due to the challenges in her own music education, Hilton is now very committed to music programs for children, teens and college students. Hilton also enjoys working with people who are blind or visually impaired, such as programs at Perkins School for the Blind near Boston, the Junior Blind of America's Camp Bloomfield in Malibu, and The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired

Favorite jazz pianists: Brad Mehldau, McCoy Tyner.

Musical influences: Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk

The New York Sessions and Twilight & Blues were recorded on a Hamburg Steinway provided by Steinway & Sons, NY at Avatar Studios. “Sunny Day Theory” and “Midnight In Manhattan” were recorded on a Hamburg Steinway provided by Fields Pianos, Los Angeles. Hilton’s practice piano is a Steinway B.

Lewis Nash: Drums
Lewis Nash is consistently on Downbeat Magazine's critic's choice awards and has performed with Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Clark Terry and Milt Jackson. His impressive discography (over 300 recordings) includes projects with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Benny Carter, Hank Jones, and John Lewis, as well as new jazz stars Diana Krall, Joe Lovano and Roy Hargrove. Demonstrating his stylistic diversity, Nash is also featured on recordings by Natalie Cole, Bette Midler, Nancy Wilson, Kenny Rankin, Melissa Manchester and George Michael. His lectures, clinics and workshops are as much in demand as his bandstand and studio work. http://www.lewisnash.com/

Larry Grenadier: Bass
Bassist Larry Grenadier, a 2009 Downbeat Critics's choice winner, tours extensively with Brad Mehldau, but also has recorded with Chris Potter, Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny, and Chick Corea and others, as well as his band Fly with Glen Ballard and Mark Turner. http://flytrio.com/

Jeremy Pelt: Trumpet
Berklee grad and 2009 Downbeat Critic's Choice Winner, Jeremy Pelt has appeared the last five years as a DownBeat Rising Star trumpeter, and received the attention of Nat Hentoff in an extensive Wall Street Journal article. Pelt is a leader of his own band, but also has performed with others such as Nancy Wilson, Cedar Walton, and Ravi Coltrane. http://www.peltjazz.com/

J.D. Allen: Tenor Saxophone
Detroit native and tenor saxman and 2009 Critic's Choice Award winner, J. D. Allen has toured and played with Cindy Blackman, Betty Carter, Ron Carter, Dave Douglas and Jack DeJohnette to name a few. His CD placed on the Village Vanguard critic's choice poll for Album of the year 2008, as well as top 10 album of the year at Jazzwise and Top 50 CD's for Jazz Times for 2008. http://www.myspace.com/jdallen11

Brice Winston: Tenor Saxophone
Saxophonist Brice Winston has been spending the last several years touring with trumpeter Terence Blanchard's band, honing his skills with some of the most cutting edge young musicians on the jazz scene today, from drummer Eric Harland, guitarist Lionel Loueke and the Nicholas Payton Quintet. His time with Terence has brought playing experiences with some of the jazz greats like Herbie Hancock, Slide Hampton, John Faddis, Marcus Miller, and Cassandra Wilson, among others, and he has performed on a dozen movie scores. Brice attended the University of New Orleans under the direction of Ellis Marsalis. Brice is currently back in his hometown of Tucson, AZ, teaching a community jazz program called Jazzwerx, while continuing to tour with Terence Blanchard.

Christian McBride: Bass
Grammy Award and DownBeat Poll winner Christian McBride, virtuoso of the acoustic and electric bass graduated from Julliard. Beginning in 1989, the Philadelphian has thus far been first-call-requested to accompany literally hundreds of fine artists, ranging in an impressive array from McCoy Tyner and Sting to Kathleen Battle and Diana Krall. He currently leads one of the hottest bands in music - the propulsive Christian McBride Band (saxophonist Ron Blake, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Terreon Gully). http://www.christianmcbride.com/

Steve Wilson: Alto and Soprano Saxophone
A musician's musician, Wilson had been documented on over 100 recording with the likes of Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Dianne Reeves, and Billy Childs. Wilson has six recordings under his own name. http://www.stevewilsonmusic.com/

Bobby Militello: Sax
Bobby is well known to jazz fans for his many years of working with the master himself, Dave Brubeck. With over one hundred recordings he has played on to his name, the New Yorker also spent two years on the Tonight Show with Doc Severinson.

Eric Marienthal: Sax
Eric Marienthal went to Berklee School of Music in Boston, and was still a teenager when he began playing with jazz legend Chick Corea. He is an in-demand studio musician, has produced several books on the saxaphone, sometimes hosts a show on "The WAVE" radio station, and also tours with Chick Corea and the Rippingtons. He is from Orange County, and plays soprano, also, tenor saxes, and flute for Lisa Hilton. http://ericmarienthal.com/

Reggie McBride: Bass
Reggie McBride was going to go to Berklee School of Music on scholarship before he was recuited to do a Stevie Wonder recording. He is originally from Detroit. His background is more blues-oriented, and he has worked on major recordings for B.B. King, Elton John, Al Jarreau, Rod Stewart, and current Billboard chart topper, Keb Mo. He plays acoustic and electric bass, and lives in North San Diego County. http://reggiemcbride.com/

John Friday: Drums
Raised in Philadelphia, "Johnny" studied drums a a young boy and played in his father's weekend band. He has worked with Natalie Cole, Tom Scott and Bobby Caldwell, and has been a part of The Emmy Awards band for the last eight years.

Tal Bergman: Percussion
Tal Bergman was born in Israel, studied classical drumming, and moved to New York at age 20. Tal has worked in every genre of music as well as written scores for several mainstream movies. He has toured and played with musicians in many genres... rock: The Offspring, Billy Idol; jazz: Chris Botti and icon Joe Zawinul; pop: Rod Steward; urban: L.L. Cool J; and classical crossover: Loreena McKennitt.

Craig Stull: Guitar
Guitarist Craig Stull has worked on numerous television shows including "King of the Hill," "Spin City," "Ally McBeal," "Dawsons Creek," and "The X-Files". Films include Armaggedon, My Best Friends Wedding, Tin Cup, and Stuart Little 2. His talent is also heard in commercials for companies such as Nike, American Express, Toyota, Coors, Sony, and KFC. Recording artists he has worked with are Celine Dion, Shawn Colvin, Carole King, Vince Gill, and Randy Travis.

Phil Feather: Woodwinds
A multi-talented man, Phil has played, flute, oboe and clarinet with Lisa Hilton. Phil has also played live with Natalie Cole, Chicago, and Tony Bennett as well as many others. His television credits include "The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno," "Touched by an Angel," and "Drew Carey". Phil has played in many symphonies in the Los Angeles area and is also a professor of oboe at Cal State University at Los Angeles.

Ian Tilp: Alto Sax
Jazz musician Ian Tilp plays piano, clarinet, flute, and guitar, as well as sax. Ian plays sax on Lisa Hilton's "Feeling Good" CD and flute on her "In The Mood For Jazz" recording. Ian is a recent graduate of Cal State Northridge.

Marston Smith: Cello
Marston Smith has played acoustic cello with Lisa Hilton on the "Cocktails at Eight..." and "Feeling Good" albums. He is also well known for his electric cello and even twelve-string Celtic cello work. An accomplished musician who studied with renowned cellist Bernard Greenhouse, Marston has recorded wirh Barbara Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley, Michael Jackson, and Bobbie Brown. His film credits include Out of Africa/John Barry, Poltergeist/Jerry Goldsmith, and An Officer and a Gentleman. http://marstonsmith.com/

Jim Sitterly: Violin
A master violinist, Jim Sitterly earned a Ph.D in music from USC and plays jazz violin, country fiddle, and classical violin concertos with equal aplomb and artistry. His work appears on Lisa Hiltons "Cocktails at Eight...," "Feeling Good" and "In The Mood For Jazz" albums. Jim also worked on the recent Grammy-winning Outkast CD. http://www.jimsitterly.com/