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Lisa Hilton: Underground

By Dan Bilawsky
September 19, 2011
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In the minds of some musicians and fans, music is meant to be an athletic competition where speed and strength trump everything else, but a large segment of audiences and performers don't buy into that line of thinking. Others believe that music can be a vehicle for expressing emotions and dealing in the art of communication, and pianist

Lisa Hilton

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Lisa Hilton's Underground embodies those very ideals.

Hilton's music has never been of the chops-heavy variety, but the California-based pianist/composer is a masterful mood-setter and a conceptualist nonpareil. While earlier albums in her discography occasionally painted sunny pictures, in keeping with stereotypes that often surround West Coast jazz musicians, Underground is a darker production that proves to be her strongest outing yet.

Hilton has always surrounded herself with the cream of the crop, with musicians like bassist

Christian McBride

bass
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Christian McBride, drummer

Lewis Nash

drums
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Lewis Nash and trumpeter

Jeremy Pelt

trumpet
b.1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Jeremy Pelt appearing on previous albums, but the personnel on Underground suits her better than any group she's used before. Bassist

Larry Grenadier

bass, acoustic
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Larry Grenadier is the lynchpin of this band, and tenor saxophonist JD Allen brings an understated intensity to the music. While Hilton has worked with both men before, drummer

Nasheet Waits

drums
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Nasheet Waits is new to the fold, and he brings a sense of the unknown into her world. Hilton's go-to drummer in the past—neo-traditionalist taste maker

Lewis Nash

drums
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Lewis Nash—is certainly one of the finest players around, but Waits' willingness to paint outside the lines helps to take Hilton's music in more adventurous directions. His jittery stick work and broken rhythms manage to simultaneously contradict and complement her piano playing.

A unified sense of sound and purpose is carried across the entire album, but Hilton's music isn't unidirectional. Choppy lines and cross-rhythmic conversations come into focus as the album begins ("Underground"), but a dirge-like, bluesy sensibility surrounds other songs ("Boston+Blues"). While dark hues appear throughout the album in various forms, "Jack & Jill" is bright as can be. This particular blues number is worry-free music, and it's book-ended by cheery sounds that could serve as the soundtrack to a silent film scene. Elsewhere, Hilton nods toward

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans ("B Minor Waltz"), deals in cathartic musical expressions with some help from Allen ("Blue Truth"), and delivers a chordal feast for the ears ("Someday, Somehow, Soon").

On Underground, Lisa Hilton and her simpatico ensemble explore all of these pieces to the fullest extent, digging below the surface to reach the emotional core that lies beneath.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Underground; Boston+Blues; Jack & Jill; Someday, Somehow, Soon; Just A Little Past Midnight; B Minor Waltz; Blue Truth; Come & Go; Someday, Somehow, Soon (Extended Take).

Personnel

Lisa Hilton

piano

Lisa Hilton: piano; Larry Grenadier: bass; Nasheet Waits: drums; J.D. Allen: tenor saxophone.

Album information

Title: Underground | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Ruby Slippers Productions

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