Lisa Rich Jazz

07/30/2026

Thanks to Ben Boddie and Ben Boddie on Jazz and All About Jazz. Listen: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/ali-ryerson-joey-alexander-david-blake-douye-and-more

07/24/2026

Thank you all so much for the incredible support you’ve shown for I Still Rise. It has been such a joy to see my fifth album receive so much wonderful press and radio airplay since its release in June 2026.

I honestly wasn’t sure this album would ever happen, which makes this journey even more meaningful. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has listened, shared the music, played it on the radio, written about it, and encouraged me along the way.

A very special thank you to the extraordinary musicians who brought this music to life—Marc Copland, Drew Gress, Dave Ballou—and to my co-producer, Bob Dawson.

📸 Chris Drukker

07/23/2026

Many thanks to Troy Dostert of ALL ABOUT JAZZ for his terrific review of Lisa Rich's "I Still Rise," out now on Tritone Records.
—Mouthpiece Music

“Vocalist Lisa Rich once again offers artful renderings of well-chosen material, sung with conviction and the wisdom that comes from a career re-forged through dogged resilience. She is a superlative interpreter of a lyric, and the ten pieces on I Still Rise are perfectly suited for the singer's distinctive musical insights. Her welcome resurgence is most certainly not over. And we can be thankful for it.”

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/i-still-rise-lisa-rich-tritone-records

Lisa Rich: I Still Rise
By Troy Dostert

Building on a comeback that began with 2024's Long as You're Living (Tritone Records), vocalist Lisa Rich once again offers artful renderings of well-chosen material, sung with conviction and the wisdom that comes from a career re-forged through dogged resilience. And like its predecessor, I Still Rise features the exemplary talents of a fine supporting cast, with pianist Marc Copland, bassist Drew Gress and trumpeter Dave Ballou adroitly enhancing Rich's seasoned vocal stylings.

After presenting her formidable abilities with a flourish on her debut album in 1983, Listen Here (Discovery Records), Rich's soaring trajectory was interrupted in the 1990s by medical challenges that essentially put her recording career on pause until Long as You're Living. (A splendid 2019 release, Highwire, consisted of previously recorded material from 1987.) Even if the intervening decades have tempered some of Rich's adventurous technique and vocal range, it remains clear that she is a superlative interpreter of a lyric, and the ten pieces on I Still Rise are perfectly suited for the singer's distinctive musical insights.

The album's opener, "No Moon at All," serves notice that Rich is indeed still rising. Accompanied by just Gress, the singer bends her notes with skill reminiscent of vintage Sheila Jordan, expressing wonder and joy through a frolic which the bassist supplements with rhythmic panache. Then Copland is added to the mix, and the pianist has an intuitive connection with the vocalist, particularly on ballads like "The Two Lonely People" or "Quiet Now," where his sensitivity adds emotional resonance to Rich's deep melancholy. But there is also a dynamic energy that animates medium-tempo pieces like "Beginner/How Can We Sing About Freedom," in which Rich deftly bookends her own politically-inspired composition with "Beginner," a wordless vocal piece composed by Jay Clayton, one of Rich's mentors. Paul Desmond's "Take Five" possesses a similar verve, and reveals Rich's s**tting prowess as well, with well-executed leaps and maneuvers which show the singer continues to have plenty of tricks up her sleeve.

The last four tracks see Ballou joining the group. His lambent tone brings another dimension to the music, starting with "Ancient Footprints," Wayne Shorter's classic featuring Kitty Margolis' lyrics, as Ballou stays in close rapport with Rich in elucidating the tune's unmistakable melody and contributes a sparkling solo of his own. His muted playing on "Never Let Me Go" is more reflective, coloring Rich's phrases expertly with a vulnerability that augments the piece's poignancy.

For the album's closer, "It's Over Now" takes Thelonious Monk's original tune for "Well You Needn't" and adds Mike Ferro's sharp-edged lyrics, giving Rich a chance to saunter off with a playful defiance, suggesting that her welcome resurgence is most certainly not over. And we can be thankful for it.

Read the All About Jazz review of I Still Rise by Lisa Rich (2026). Expert analysis, ratings, and insight into one of jazz's finest recordings.

07/22/2026

Thank you Bebop Spoken Here by Lance Liddle

“A delightful album… may her voice be heard in all the right places by all the right people.”

https://lance-bebopspokenhere.blogspot.com/2026/07/album-review-lisa-rich-i-sill-rise.html

Saturday, July 18, 2026
Album review: Lisa Rich - I Sill Rise (Tritone Records)

Lisa Rich (vocals); Marc Copland (piano); Drew Gress (bass) + Dave Ballou (trumpet tks 7-10)

I reviewed Lisa Rich's 1983 album, Listen Here, last year and I was impressed. I'm impressed with this, her latest, too.

No Moon at All opens up this delightful album. Just voice and bass, not an easy combination but when it works, and it works here, the end product is worth it for both performers and listeners alike.

Bill Evans' Two Lonely People brings a similar empathy between voice and piano with the bass gently adding a third line - or it may be Copland's left hand. It's a sad song but a beautiful one with Rich capturing the sad sentiments.

There's a lot of background to Beginner/How Can we Sing About Freedom?. Beginner was composed by Rich's late friend and mentor Jay Clayton who, sadly, passed away in December 2023. Clayton, Rich admits, was the one who got her back into singing. Health issues had made her unable to perform. However, it was during a time of national protest that brought about How Can we Sing About Freedom?. Unable to march with the crowds, she wrote a poem and put it to a minor blues - her way of speaking through music to a troubled world. Solos from piano and bass as well as some vocal s**tting.

Estate is sung entirely in Italian. As I belong to the non parlo Italiano brand of tourist I don't know what it's about although the plaintive melody suggests it isn't a party song.

Take Five is tricky enough to begin with, having to sing it in 5/4 time demands vocal dexterity of the first order - that demand is met.

Quiet Nights drew this comment from composer Denny Zeitlin: "Wow, you are a helluva singer."

Kitty Margolis added lyrics to Wayne Shorter's Footprints, renaming it Ancient Footprints. Ballou added some trumpet lines. Being long familiar with Shorter's original, adding words didn't do it for me.

Ballou stays on board for Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke's classic Like Someone in Love. Rich interprets the lyrics just like someone in love, Ballou is more at home here and Gress shines with a meaningful bass solo - an accolade rarely applied to our bull-fiddlers!

Muted trumpet slots in nicely with Rich's vocal on Never Let me go.

More muted trumpet on Monk's Well You Needn't retitled It's Over Now. Rich indulges in some quirky s**tting.

It's good to have her recording again and may her voice be heard in all the right places by all the right people. Lance

Jazz in the north east (UK) and beyond.

07/22/2026

I Still Rise is out now.

This music came out of a long life of listening, singing, loss, recovery, and joy. It took years to arrive and only a few days to record, but it carries everything in between.

I’m deeply grateful to Marc Copland, Drew Gress, and Dave Ballou for the extraordinary care, sensitivity, and imagination they brought to this music. Making this record with them felt like a true conversation.

We also shared a concert recently that felt like a real celebration of the music and of being able to play together.

I’m especially moved by how people are hearing this record. Some of the comparisons being made to singers who have meant a great deal in my life feel very personal to me, in ways I don’t entirely have words for.

I’ve been lucky over the years to know and learn from extraordinary musicians, and I feel that history is somehow still present in this music too.

I’m very grateful for the early reviews and for anyone who takes the time to listen.

One reviewer wrote, “A record to marvel at, from a singer who deserves to be heard.”

If you choose to listen, thank you for being part of this journey.

07/21/2026

Thank you Anne Carlini of Exclusive Magazine

“Elegant, affectingly impassioned, and emotively stirring…”

Read the full review here:
https://annecarlini.com/ex_cd.php?id=6918

07/21/2026

JW Vibe by Jonathan Widran 🩵

“A beautiful, intricately crafted collection that reveals an artist whose interpretive depth has only deepened and continues to evolve with time. Her wonderfully adaptable voice shifts effortlessly from darkly soulful introspection to playful exuberance, while her imaginative s**tting often functions less like vocal embellishment than an additional improvising instrument.”

https://www.jwvibe.com/single-post/lisa-rich-i-still-rise

LISA RICH, I Still Rise

One of jazz’s greatest gifts is its ability to transform life’s hardest-earned wisdom into something graceful, spontaneous and quietly uplifting. That spirit resonates throughout I Still Rise, Lisa Rich’s deeply satisfying second act—a beautiful, intricately crafted collection that continues her remarkable return to trademark form. The unveiling she began with Long As You’re Living now reveals an artist whose interpretive depth has only deepened and continues to evolve with time.

Joined once again by pianist Marc Copland, bassist Drew Gress and trumpeter Dave Ballou, Rich embraces the unusual openness of a drumless ensemble, allowing every phrase to breathe naturally. Her wonderfully adaptable voice shifts effortlessly from darkly soulful introspection to playful exuberance, while her imaginative s**tting often functions less like vocal embellishment than an additional improvising instrument. At times, she mirrors Ballou’s trumpet lines with astonishing precision, reinforcing the conversational intimacy that defines and drives the album.

The wholly improvised opening duet “No Moon at All” immediately showcases that chemistry, with Rich’s husky, lived-in vocals weaving around Gress’ rolling bass line in a performance filled with sly humor and irresistible swing. “The Two Lonely People” follows with haunting restraint, its sparse piano accompaniment framing a wistful meditation on love remembered. A medley of her late friend and master teacher Jay Clayton’s “Beginner” and Rich’s original “How Can We Sing About Freedom?” broadens the emotional landscape considerably, opening with buoyant s**t before evolving into a thoughtful, emotionally riveting reflection on contemporary uncertainty, its hopeful swing balancing the weight of its social message.

Rich’s expressive versatility also inspires the lush romantic elegance she brings to the Italian classic “Estate” and the remarkable agility of her exuberant vocal interpretation of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” which finds her matching its iconic melody with crafty precision before launching into dazzling, almost otherworldly s**t excursions.

The meditative “Quiet Now” and impressionistic “Ancient Footprints,” (a vocal adaptation of Wayne Shorter’s iconic “Footprints”) featuring Ballou’s soulful trumpet alongside Rich’s dreamy vocal lines, showcase her gift for quiet emotional storytelling, while “Never Let Me Go” offers one of the album’s most affecting moments, blending tender vulnerability with understated charm. She closes with the joyous romp “It’s Over Now,” whose spirited interplay and carefree vocal flights leave the listener smiling.

One of jazz’s greatest gifts is its ability to transform life’s hardest-earned wisdom into something graceful, spontaneous and quietly uplifting. That spirit resonates throughout I Still Rise, Lisa Rich’s deeply satisfying second act—a beautiful, intricately crafted collection that continues...

07/16/2026

After years away from performing, I sang again.
First, at Westminster Jazz Church — 350 people, and the first time I sang from a chair, with a walker at my side. Then, a month later, something smaller: our old apartment living room, a handful of friends, a wonderful band, and a photographer to capture it.
None of us knew what was coming next. I only knew I needed to sing again. Looking at this photo now, I’m grateful for everyone who helped make that evening possible — and for the music that found its way back to me.