Lucky All Along will be out November 29th, 2024.  PreOrder Oct 1st on Apple Music

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LISA HILTON / PIANO, IGMAR THOMAS / TRUMPET, RUDY ROYSTON / DRUMS & PERCUSSION, LUQUES CURTIS / BASS 

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In college I received a degree in art and design, and those studies have consistently informed how I think about my piano playing and composing. I am often inspired by cool jazz – whose associated members include some of our most beloved and iconic jazz artists of all times: Miles Davis (1926-1991), Chet Baker (1929-1988), Stan Getz (1927-1991), and Bill Evans (1920-1980). The playing styles of these extremely expressive artists often reflected mood and sensitivity over flashy virtuosity. They used the breadth of their instrument, creativity, and passionate spirits to create enduring classics we still listen to and love. 

 

I am continually inspired by impressionist artists as well, like the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gough (1853-1890), who memorably used swirling painterly strokes, the French painter George Seurat (1859-1891), who used pointillism – little dabs of paint on his large canvases, and French plein air painter Claude Monet (1840-1926), who was greatly influenced by natural light and reflections on water. Like artists throughout time, they searched for new ways to express how they saw and experienced the world in their art.

 

The music on Lucky All Along is inspired by the history of cool jazz as well as impressionism. Instead of paint, my compositional “tools” include different harmonic palettes and rhythmic textures such as blues, swing, improvisation, free jazz, polyrhythms, bop, pop, rag time, early rock, the Latin tinge and traditional riffs. As a band we also make use of intentional and impressionistic expression when we play to communicate the life we all experience today. Although I create notated scores, they leave ample room for my bandmates interpretations, contributions and improvisations as well as my own. We work quickly without rehearsing or overdubbing to create a fresh, natural and authentic sound and it’s always thrilling and surprising to us when we record what we will be created in the moment.

 

When you listen to these tracks, you will also hear something else: a joy and passion for our instruments, a deep collective love for playing, hope, beauty and the life we all share as we intuitively collaborate and creatively combine artistry, skills and mastery. Enjoy!

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In California there are huge beaches like SoCal’s Zuma Beach, but we also have a lot of pocket beaches – small but inviting scoops of sand that dot our coastline. Little Beach Mornings is a warm wake-me-up tune that celebrates the beauty and sense of community that I feel near my home in Malibu.

 

All Blues is a favorite jazz tune for many of us, and was written by Miles Davis for his landmark 1959 cool jazz album entitled Kind Of Blue. It has the best groove to listen to, but is extraordinarily fun to play too. I love how our band sounds on this – I want to listen to it over and over! In my studio there is a photo of Miles by my friend Ken Franckling in the middle of three musical twentieth century masters I look at whenever I play or compose. (The others include Thelonious Monk by photographer Paul Ryan and Igor Stravinsky photographed by Arnold Newman). They represent passion, creativity, intellect and a rarified work ethic to me.

 

I created this album during an election year, and Prophesies & Predictions is an emotional response to the amount of analysis, guesstimating, and obsessive surveying going on in America this year. Like many, I spent a bit of time 2020-2023 with Escapist Fantasy day dreams that wove their way into this composition. I enjoyed putting together different rhythmic ideas and harmonic effects, to create the impression of those moments of escapism we sometimes all feel.

 

There are a lot of challenges in life that we need to navigate, but I try and counter that by remembering the good times – the best times even - times that feel like a too-good-to-be-true Hollywood Moment! I greatly admire the jazz pianist Bill Evans for his thoughtful, expressive playing and genius harmonic choices. I was thinking of his style when I wrote this piece.

 

Lately it seems that many jazz artists choose to arrange tunes by the Beatles or Stevie Wonder, but I think jazz should reflect our times today and great composers of this generation too. While he was still at Berklee College of Music, singer/songwriter/producer Charlie Puth opened up for me at my show in Boston. Even then, I was impressed with his skills, talent and personality. After his college graduation, Charlie co-wrote a song that touches a lot of people, about the loss of his friend in a motorcycle accident, which he expressed in the tune See You Again. I kept Charlie’s piano solo but put it at the end, opening with the trumpet instead which I think it adds a little to the feeling of gospel on this song.

 

Originally the blues were considered the basis or soul of jazz, but today many jazz artists don’t include any in their performances at all. I always want to include the blues though! And Some Blues… is one of my favorites on this album – I love what the band contributed here.

 

Vincent Van Gogh entitled his most famous painting Starry Night. I believe that Van Gough also must have had starry eyes, that nurtured his belief and passion for his art against the odds he experienced. Only one or two canvases of his nine hundred paintings were sold to buyers other than to his supportive brother Theo before his death at 37 years. I admire this passion and persistence and wrote Starry, Starry Eyes thinking of this gifted artist who was so ahead of his time.

 

How we interpret our world is subjective and is based largely by how we choose to see it. The sun will rise every morning and set every night whether we enjoy the beauty we are freely given or choose to look the other way. I believe we are lucky just to be here, to live this life as we find it and as we create it. In fact, if you think back to when you were a child, and see where you are today, you might just feel that you’ve been Lucky All Along without even realizing it.

 

I think Big Sur Views exudes the beauty and grandeur of nature – especially in a place like Big Sur, California with giant shade drenched redwoods near expansive and sunny views of the Pacific Ocean.

 

It seems crazy that the vast majority of music played at jazz clubs, classical music performing arts centers and opera houses is written by men. So on my albums, I try include a composition written by a woman. So far, I have recorded music by Joni Mitchel, Janis Joplin, Ann Ronell, Lana Del Rey and now Snow On The Beach  written by Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff for Taylor’s Midnights album in 2022. You might consider this a pop song, but I hear a touch of the great American composer Robert Johnson in this evocative composition. I love the very subtle improvisations from the bass and drums on this one.

 

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