Lisa Fischer is a vocalist with a career spanning
decades.
I made a note to check her out after seeing her
recommended by Trudy, and was initially surprised to find just one album - So
Intense - from 1991. It is a good album, showing an impressive vocal range,
but I thought there must be more. There was much more.
Fischer has been remarkably successful as a session
musician. Some of her more famous gigs have included backing up Sting, Tina
Turner, and Luther Vandross, as well as touring with The Rolling Stones, but
the touring list also includes Chaka Khan, Chris Botti, and Nine Inch Nails.
For the record, the Youtube channel listed below has
videos containing Fischer, but there is a greater selection on her web site.
There you can get a better idea of how she is now, and some stages her career
has gone through. It makes me want to watch 20 Feet from Stardom. More
than that, listening to other artists talk about working with her gives me an
idea of her strength.
Yes, there is the amazing vocal range, but other
artists with impressive ranges have fallen in love with that, overdoing
gratuitous vocal acrobatics that don't serve the music.
Fischer has an unusually good grasp of music and
musicians, able to understand what they need. It appears to be intuitive,
though that could be deceptive - there's a lot of hard work that goes into this
long of a career.
Being able to sense that natural flow of the music
also feels very compatible with this particular career. She can happy as a session
musician, put out a solo album, go back to more supportive work, and then pick
up the solo side again, still touring, still working with a wide range of
musicians, and fitting well in the way in which she is needed. Fischer's own
album is more similar to Luther Vandross than the others mentioned, but she
fits in perfectly with the Stones. Not everyone can do that.
My personal favorite on So Intense was
"How Can I Ease the Pain", but the intro on "Some Girls"
gives a good idea of the funk that is generally present, if sometimes less
prominent.
It is worth checking out, but it is also interesting
to think that as Fischer plays more dates as herself, and as she has always
been a songwriter - even as a child in kindergarten - that new music could be
coming. That would be a good thing.
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