Lizzy Parks

Lizzy Parks - This And That - 2009 - Tru Thoughts

Well, she’s more than just a lovely person, she’s got a voice to match. And she’s got the good sense to signed up to Tru-Thoughts and work with the jazz giants Riaan Vosloo and Benedic Lamdin, they of the incredible Nostalgia 77 Sessions with Keith and Julie Tippett that came out last month, see review HERE), so ‘prolific’ is their middle names and in addition to the album Raise The Roof, this is a bonus edition if you like. And if you’ve got Shapes 09:01 you’ll know what a great mix that have done on ‘Raise The Roof’. Sadly, that’s not included on This And That as this album concentrates on Ms. Parks in an acoustic setting; of the 9 tracks, five are acoustic versions. And if you know either of those versions of ‘Raise The Roof’, this downtempo string quartet assisted version is the killer defining version (yep, it’s that good!) And the tone is set by the opener ‘This And That’ that’s not much more than Lizzy and the piano of Riaan Vosloo and ‘Soul Bird’ is a Lizzy only version. The acoustic ‘Forever And A Day’ is so stripped as it showcases Lizzy’s vocals with acoustic guitar (Max Gilkes) and a glorious flute solo, it makes you want to live, “forever and a day”. Jazzy mixtape material par excellance. And then ‘Time’ and ‘Eyes Of A Child’ reminds me of some of Deborah Jordan’s recent material; GP should have played both these tracks on his ‘Strings, Things and Cinematic Voices’ last week; or if you’re the other side of pond, think Mia Doi Todd with strings - stunning! There’s two cover versions on the album, ‘A Taste Of Honey’ (as in the 60s film) and showing off her love of jazz (in case you were in any doubt), Wayne Shorter’s ‘Deluge’. Oh yes! Both tracks are so late nite soul-jazz with percussion from Will Fry, Mark Hanslip on sax, Riaan on bass with the added bonus of a string section on ‘A Taste Of Honey’. The deluge is starting for Lizzy Parks and if you don’t know already, you need the albums by Malatu/Heliocentrics, Stonephace, Nostalgia 77 Sessions, Emanative, Get The Blessing and now, the sublime mellow out of This And That. If you don’t get this album, I’ll raise the roof - Parks brings us cosmic psychedelic-soul-jazz love from Devon via Birmingham, Brighton and London. Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Deluge’, ‘Soul Bird’, ‘This And That’, ‘A Taste Of Honey’ © Gerry Hectic Friday 19 June 2009 © Some Rights Reserved FLY 2010 http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/europe_reviews/lizzy_parks_this_and_that.html

Lizzy Parks’ "This And That" has been called a "fully acoustic, heart stopping affair". It is great to hear high calibre soul jazz albums of this quality still being recorded. A great album from a lady with a wonderful voice and superb songwriting talents. Buy her " Raise the Roof" album and promote this talented lady

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 This And That - Benedic Lamdin, Lizzy Parks,, Riaan Vosloo
2 Forever And A Day (Acoustic Version) - Benedic Lamdin, Lizzy Parks, Riaan Vosloo
3 Deluge - Wayne Shorter
4 Soul Bird (Acoustic Version) - Benedic Lamdin, Lizzy Parks, Riaan Vosloo
5 A Taste Of Honey - Ric Marlow, Bobby Scott
6 Time (Acoustic Version) - Benedic Lamdin, Lizzy Parks, Riaan Vosloo
7 Eyes Of A Child - Benedic Lamdin, Lizzy Parks, Riaan Vosloo
8 Raise The Roof (Acoustic Version) - Benedic Lamdin, Lizzy Parks, Riaan Vosloo
9 Leaving Home (Acoustic Version) - Benedic Lamdin, Lizzy Parks, Riaan Vosloo

MUSICIANS

Lizzy Parks - Vocals
Max Gilkes - Guitar
Riaan Vosloo - [Strings Arrangement], Double Bass, Piano
Will Fry - Percussion
Mark Hanslip - Saxophone
Mark Hanslip - Flute
Robin Martin , Rose Redgrave , Roz Gladstone , Sophie Ryan - Strings [String Quartet]

BIO

Blending the female singer songwriter tradition with influences from the cutting edge of Björk to the soaring jazz melodies of Ella Fitzgerald. A stunningly talented singer, Lizzy Parks caught Tru Thoughts’ attention via her involvement with the Nostalgia 77 and Nostalgia 77 Octet projects. She has loved and lived music all her life with the help of an old clarinet (in the very early years), piano, tenor sax and, of course, her vocal chords. She grew up in Devon in the South West of England but opted for a taste of city life when she moved to Birmingham to study Jazz at university. There she did most of her growing up (musically and the rest!) and had the pleasure of playing with some great musicians including Chris Bowden (a killer sax player) who asked her to sing on his ‘Slightly Askew’ album for Ninja Tune in 2001. This and other early successes set the scene for her musical journey. Further sessions followed for various labels and artists including tracks such as Nostalgia 77’s ‘Hope Suite’ for Tru Thoughts, which was nominated for Gilles Peterson’s BBC Radio One’s Track of the Year 2005, and Will Saul’s ‘Space Between’ (Simple). She then worked on her debut album ‘Watching Space’ in 2005 for indie label The Birds and settled in North London where she lives and works, on her own music and a variety of new and exciting projects with artists including Nostalgia 77. She can frequently be found live on stage with the Nostalgia 77 Octet and on occasion The Heritage Orchestra (Brownswood) and of course in her own band, as, you guessed it, Lizzy Parks. Over the years Lizzy has performed at some wonderful venues including The Jazz Café, Cargo, The National Theatre, The Royal Festival Hall, The Spitz, Ronnie Scotts, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Glastonbury Festival, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and the Gateshead International Jazz Festival, as well as internationally in Denmark, Portugal, Bratislava, Athens, Ghent, Belgium and Germany. Lizzy describes her music: “To be honest, I love a lot, I listen a lot and I sing a lot and I’m always happiest sharing what I can find with anyone who’ll take the time to listen”. At the Big Chill 2008, she did just that, with a series of impromptu acoustic performances that drew an impressive crowd of revellers, curious to see who was behind the dulcet tones they could hear drifting along on the breeze. Lizzy’s debut album for Tru Thoughts (produced by Nostalgia 77) came out on 22nd September 2008, entitled Raise the Roof. It was preceded by a 7” single of the same name in August. The quirky, soulful jazz and stunning live musicianship of these releases garnered fantastic reactions from tastemakers around the world – including Laurent Garnier, Pete Isaac (Jelly Jazz) and Gilles Peterson, who has supported tracks on his BBC Radio 1 show – and firmly cemented Lizzy’s reputation as a bona fide soulful chanteuse for our times. In 2009, hot on the heels of her debut album, Lizzy Parks is taking her talent in a new direction with an acoustic album entitled This And That. A collection of totally new and exclusive acoustic material, interspersed with gloriously re-worked acoustic versions of songs from her previous album, ‘This And That’ sees Lizzy exploring new terrain, dipping into the worlds of folk, jazz and soul with her characteristic charm and lightness of touch. © www.myspace.com/lizzyparksmusic © 2010 Tru Thoughts http://www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/artists/lizzy-parks