Lizz Wright
WRIGHT PLACE, WRIGHT TIME
Vocalist Lizz Wright Finds Herself Where She Wants to Be on Dreaming Wide Awake
With her latest album, Atlanta-born Lizz Wright stretches beyond the jazz confines of her impressive debut, Salt, into a singer-songwriter-driven sound that also embraces folk, gospel, and R&B. Working with producer Craig Street (Cassandra Wilson, k. d. lang, Meshell Ndegeocello) helped Wright broaden her stylistic palette, and in addition to stirring original songs, Dreaming Wide Awake includes spellbinding covers of songs once performed by Neil Young, Madonna, and the Beatles. Prior to album's release, Barnes & Noble.com's R&B editor Tracy E. Hopkins spoke with the mellow chanteuse via telephone from her Seattle home.
Barnes & Noble.com: Your first album, Salt, was considered a jazz record, but this one incorporates other styles, including R&B and folk. What prompted the change?
Lizz Wright: There are several factors. One of them was that I was exhausted from touring with Salt. I was still touring when I started on this record. I didn't take off a couple months like some writers do to give themselves time to refresh and find new material, so in a way this record was [my chance to] take it easy. It was like a vacation built into work. When I first met Craig [Street] I told him that I don't really listen to jazz when I'm alone. I like to think the world caught me when I was experimenting with [jazz], and that's what they pinned me as. For my own pleasure, I listen to artists like Jeff Buckley, Damien Rice, and Fiona Apple. So those [factors] contributed to making this record.
B&N.com: In your bio it says that you were also inspired when you heard Sarah McLachlan's "Angel."
LW: I remember when I heard that song. I was still living in Atlanta, and I remember thinking, This is the kind of music I want to make. I don't know what this is, but I love its simplicity and it tells a real story. And the moment I heard [the song], it's like the moment was suspended. So this record [represents] me turning away from other peoples' expectations and really making the record I felt like making.
B&N.com: In your music, there are hints of Cassandra Wilson, Tracy Chapman, and even Meshell Ndegeocello. How do you feel about those comparisons, and are those artists you listen to?
LW: I listen to all of them… I'm sure if I sat down with any of those artists, we'd really agree on some things. We probably have similar backgrounds. I love their work, so I appreciate the association and I think they're beautiful musicians.
B&N.com: Where does your inspiration come from when you're writing a song?
LW: In general it comes from life. It also comes from dreams. I keep my journal by the bed and I usually write between 3:00 and 5:00 in the morning. I'm on a schedule where I wake up exactly five hours after I went to sleep. And sometimes I get up and write. The good things about dreams are that everything is beautiful or frightening. Everything is everything in a dream - it's not so organized and planted the way it is in real life. So I enjoy what I come up with in a really restless state or just waking up.
B&N.com: Is that where the title Dreaming Wide Awake comes from?
LW: No, I actually wrote that song when I left Georgia State and moved back home. I was living in an apartment with no furniture, and I listened to Abbey Lincoln every day for like six months. So I did a lot of writing trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I wrote that song with no instruments at all and I heard everything. I was lying on my stomach on the floor when I wrote it, and it just made sense to me. That's the oldest song on this record.
B&N.com: You sang in vocal and gospel groups when you were in college. Who are a few of your favorite gospel artists?
LW: Oleta Adams isn't a gospel artist, but she did a gospel record, Come Walk with Me, that was so soulful, simple, and sincere. I love that record. But I grew up listening to the artists involved in the contemporary gospel movement of the '80s and early '90s like the Winans family, the Hawkins family, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong. [Those artists sang] messages of hope combined with the sound of soul and jazz.
B&N.com: That's kind of how your music is. It's very spiritual, but without being overtly religious.
LW: Thank you. I hope for that. I don't want to be spiritual in a way that excludes other people. I'm not into divisive beliefs and ideals. I want the ones that bring people together.
B&N.com: You have several cover songs on the album, including Neil Young's "Old Man." How did you select the covers?
LW: Craig Street and I went through this process of making compilations for each other, and we probably swapped at least 50 songs between us. We found this group of songs that we liked. I wanted to do "A Taste of Honey" because I'd heard a Sarah Vaughan recording of it a long time ago and loved the bittersweet nature of the lyrics. But I ended up recording a lot of the songs that [Craig] suggested. I'm glad I did that because it's nice to have something to grow into.
B&N.com: I love the song "Stop." It has a bossa nova feel to it. How did you select that one?
LW: I listened to the original Joe Henry recording. And at first I had a problem with it because I've never openly expressed anything sensual, except for a song I did with David Sanborn, "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" [from Closer]. But part of being an artist is lending myself to something or creating another story I'm more comfortable with inside of the one I'm given. It's great practice to do things you feel least associated with, just to see who you really are. So I find that music is a great way for me to explore things.
B&N.com: What are some records by contemporary artists that you really like?
LW: I really like Ryan Adams. I just found out he's a country artist. Craig gave me some of [Adams's] music and it wasn't really country -- it was more alternative with a touch of country. But I bought one of his records recently, and it was all country. But I wouldn't return it. I'm gonna live with the record and see what happens. I'm really into Fiona Apple right now. I've heard that she's working on something new. She's brilliant and wild in a way. I love the spirit I feel in her music.
B&N.com: Are you a hip-hop fan?
LW: I hear little snippets here and there when I'm at the gym. I love Mos Def and Common. And I like the organic drums and the sweeping string sound of the song "Turn Around" by [Bobby] Valentino. I love sampling, and I'm gonna start paying more attention to that.
B&N.com: Who are your favorite jazz artists?
LW: Abbey Lincoln is my favorite. She's an amazing storyteller and her music has a good spirit. Her voice is a guide to me. Nina Simone is incredible. I was listening to her the other day when I was cooking. She makes sense to me. In a way, she was a folk singer. It was great to be a part of that tribute to her at Carnegie Hall in 2004. That helped inform this record too. I was singing beside Tracy Chapman, Odetta, and Nina Simone's daughter. I felt so good.
B&N.com: The album cover for Dreaming Wide Awake is in color, and we get to really see your face and your figure, as opposed to the sepia-tone cover for Salt, where you weren't smiling and were all covered up. Does this reflect you feeling more open?
LW: These interviews are so great for me. [laughs] I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of shrinks. You're right, I've definitely become more open. I almost named this record Hit the Ground, 'cause I'm gonna stop fooling around and trying to be all these different things, and show the world who I really am.
June 13, 2005
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