Friday, February 03, 2017

Band Review: Lisa Fischer



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.




No comments: