Even though describing Lizz Wright as a soul and gospel singer hit the mark, leaving it there would be much too narrow. Her style and the music she chooses to sing come through in her conversation which invariably remains grounded in a spirituality that straddles the religious and the secular. It’s an awareness and understanding the pierces through and tames doubt; finally settling on a steady equilibrium. This gift gives her the ability to be an accomplished shape shifter blending into many musical worlds that absorb both jazz and folk.
Wright’s Tuesday night concert at City Winery drew a big crowd that also defied easy labels. Many carried an air of loose fitting sophistication that looked as unconscious as it was natural. When she stepped onto the frugal stage, their shared passion for the singer flashed like fire in a gust of wind. It’s intensity and heat seemed to surprise even her.
Rising to prominence with her first album Salt when it climbed to #2 on Billboard’s jazz ratings in 2003, Wright has settled into a career and success that allows her to define how she plies craft from her home in rural North Carolina. Opening the evening with a soft contemplative hymn, turning it up to a casual simmer with Allan Toussaint’s Southern Nights and stroking a solid groove by the time she and her band did Sparrow, Wright seemed to be doing exactly what she does interviews; step back and let the music lead her voice to a place of enchantment.
Talking easily and comfortably with the audience between songs, you gain a greater appreciation of the person inside the entertainer; marveling slightly at the internalized peace resting at her core.
With Aretha still very much on many of our minds, a tribute to her greatness seemed perfectly appropriate even though Wright demurred about covering such a colossus. Her beautifully personalized renditions of Natural Woman and Knew You Were Waiting helped propel the audience to insist on an encore at show’s end and cement its esteem for a wonderfully gifted and intriguing vocalist.
Lizz Wright
May, 14 2019
8:00pm
City Winery
1200 W. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60607
