CD review: Lisa Hilton – More Than Another Day 2020: Video, CD cover

More Than Anther Day is the latest instrumental jazz release from composer/pianist/producer, Lisa Kristine Hilton. Hilton and her band mates: Rudy Royston on drums, and Luques Curtis on bass, had just finished the first half of their tour for their 2020 album, Chalkboard Destiny, when the corona virus forced a shut – down of the tour, and of course a lock down in the U.S. Grounded and worried for a relative stuck and sick in Italy, Hilton did what she said she’s always done: I have always turned to my creativity in difficult times. I think it is how I process what is happening in our world. For artists, creative projects flourish in down times – I think quiet propels creativity.

More Than Another Day opens up with the title track showcasing the creative range of Hilton and her trio. Seamlessly moving through different rhythmic ideas, genres and eras, Royston and Curtis provide stellar additions to Hiltons nine compositions and one cover tune. The trio powers through the upbeat and swinging Retro Road Trip. With its groovy riffs, this might just be the feel good track youve been waiting for. Secret Beach, Karma Chaos and Cole Porters Ive Got You Under My Skin, all exude refreshing Latin ideas. Blues & Beauty captures the moods weve been encountering this year with Hiltons very expressive and bluesy piano, but also surprises the listener with serenity and beauty as well. The ballads, No Sleep Until… , Today I Looked At Love and So This Is Love give the album a rich balance of emotions and harmonic colors as well. If you listen carefully, you can pick up Hilton s range of style influences Antonio Carlos Jobim and Count Basie perhaps, but also Bill Evans comes to mind. This is music for today, for this year, and of course, for More Than Another Day.

Lisa Kristine Hilton is a distinctive composer of jazz, as well as an acclaimed pianist. Growing up in a small town on California s central coast, she originally taught herself to play piano with a colored keyboard guide, writing her first simple songs around six years, before beginning studies in classical and twentieth century music starting at the age of eight. In college she switched majors from music and graduated instead with a degree in art. Hilton s art background informs her compositions: she describes painting compositions using improvisation, and harmony or sculpting with constantly changing rhythmic ideas from different cultures. Hilton s music draws on classical traditions, and twentieth century modernists as well as classic American jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Horace Silver, as well as blues heroes Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. A prolific and passionate composer as well as an accomplished producer, Hilton has recorded about 300 tracks.

In the book, The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today s Living Legends and Artists of Tomorrow by Cicly Janus, it states that Hilton has been compared to some of the best pianists in history.

Hilton often speaks of the profound imbalance of jazz and classical music presented in great concert halls, opera theaters and clubs where the vast majority of music heard is written by male composers. Hilton says:
The music created by women should also be performed in concert halls, and jazz clubs everywhere, to be enjoyed by audiences around the world.

1. More Than Another Day (4:37)
2. Retro Road Trip (4:19)
3. Secret Beach (3:31)
4. I’ve Got You Under My Skin (4:49)
5. Blues & Beauty (6:15)
6. No Sleep Until… (4:34)
7. Dear Life of Mine (4:07)
8. Karma Chaos (3:57)
9. Today I Looked at Love (4:18)
10. So This Is Love (4:47)

Lisa K. Hilton – Piano
Luques Curtis – Bass
Rudy Royston – Drums