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Lisa Hilton - Lucky All Along |
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“If you listen to the entire album it takes you through your life. I
hope that gets communicated to people when they listen to it,” says
pianist and composer Lisa Hilton about her current album, Lucky All
Along. A friend of Riveting Riffs Magazine for almost all of the
twenty-one years that we have been publishing the affable,
internationally, critically acclaimed artist, composed, played and
produced one of the most beautiful musical gems you will hear this year
or any other year.
Lisa Hilton set aside an hour of her time and spoke to us from her
Malibu home, from which she can watch the dolphins play and where she
composed this, her 30 th album. It has both a missive about finding our
way, even through dark times, through struggles and emerging on the
other side intact and still pursuing our dreams. It also pays homage to
women in music, to those who perform, to those who compose and in some
instances to those who do both.
Not just with this album, but with previous ones, Lisa Hilton has nodded
in the direction of Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Ann Ronell and Lana Del
Rey. For Lucky All Along, she arranged “Snow On the Beach,”
written by Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff.
“It is a gross imbalance (in the lack of representation of women in
music) and I only recognized this about five years ago. That has got to
change. At amazing Opera houses around the world, they are only
presenting one creative point of view and that really has to change. It
really does. It also has to change, not just for Opera or Classical
composers, but at Jazz clubs and on the radio. Women are not getting
paid for their writing. It is not a lot of writing, so it is not a lot
of money, but they are not receiving royalties that men would, for
instance the estate of a Miles Davis compared to a female composer from
that time. It is something that we need to think about. If we want to
watch films or read books by a guy that doesn’t matter, but why would we
only play music and study music and teach music about composers that are
men. It isn’t even a conversation in Jazz, Classical and Opera music. I
am talking about it and I hope there will at least be more awareness
about it. (You can hear exasperation in her voice), but we
haven’t even moved forward to when it is a topic of conversation
It seems crazy that the vast majority of music played at Jazz clubs,
Classical music performing arts centers and Opera houses is written by
men. So, on my albums, I try to include a composition written by a
woman,” she says. (editor’s note: It should also be noted that Lisa
Hilton also records her own compositions)
Why would we only play music and study music and teach music about
composers that are men? It isn’t even a conversation in Jazz, Classical
and Opera music. I am talking about it and I hope there will at least be
more awareness about it. (You can hear exasperation in her voice),
but we haven’t even moved forward to when it is a topic of
conversation,” says Lisa Hilton.
This leads us to the song “Snow On The Beach, Lisa Hilton begins,” You
might consider this a pop song, but I hear a touch of the great American
composer Robert Johnson in this evocative composition. I like the very
subtle improvisations from the bass and drums on this one.
I love the idea of being supportive of Taylor Swift. I believe that she
is an amazing leader and an incredible songwriter. When I play other
people’s music I am really interested in composers. What are they doing?
What are their ideas? It is like a chef tasting somebody else’s cooking.
They are trying to figure out what kind of spices are in there or
whatever. I enjoy playing other great compositions. I have played some
of Lana Del Rey’s work and she has a lot of very interesting harmonic
ideas.
I thought I should play some Taylor Swift, so I did and she too,
obviously is a great composer. You can’t write as many great songs as
she has and be as popular as she is, without being a good composer. It
was interesting when I was listening to her music and the piece that I
chose and liked the best was one that she worked on with Lana Del Rey
(and also Jack Antonoff). It has that little sprinkle of Lana in there
that some of Taylor’s other work doesn’t have.
I like the idea of snow on the beach. I have read that snow on the beach
is relatively rare, although my girlfriend says it snows on the beach in
Canada! Apparently, though, it doesn’t snow on some beaches, let’s put
it that way. From southern California, I have never seen snow on the
beach. Let’s go along with that idea that it is relatively rare. When
you consider the name of the song, she (Taylor Swift) is really talking
about something that is rare. Every moment that we have is rare. Every
moment that we are experiencing right now, it won’t happen again. I
wanted to end the album that way. Our life is special. Our moment is
special. It is like snow on the beach, maybe it will happen or maybe it
won’t. I think she was probably referring to a love relationship, but it
is for any moment in our lives.
I thought what was so beautiful when we recorded this in the studio, I
just said we are going to do Snow On The Beach and then we recorded it.
We didn’t practice, we didn’t rehearse, we just did it. I thought what
Rudy (Royston) was doing on the drums was so, so, soft and subtle that
you can hardly hear it. He was creating that percussion of snow. It is
just very soft and gentle like snow would be. It was beautiful what
Luques (Curtis) did on the bass. He is
like magic. I don’t always know how he gets his sounds. I can’t
always see what he is doing when I am playing. In that instance I
thought what is he doing, it sounds like snow. He has his secrets and he
is a great drummer. It
touched on the seriousness of idea behind it, that life is rare, a
moment is rare. It is unique and we should enjoy it. I wanted to end the
album with that thought.”
If you are a fan of classic paintings, it will not take you long to
figure out where the inspiration for the song, “Starry, Starry Eyes,” an
original Lisa Hilton song, came from. If you said Vincent Van Gogh’s The
Starry Night painting you would be right.
“I recently read that in his lifetime Vincent Van Gogh had painted over
900 paintings. He was prolific and he really didn’t sell many in his
lifetime. He only sold a couple. We do know that his brother Theo bought
all of his paintings to help support him, but in terms of a nonfamily
member not buying your art, it would be so hard to go through a
lifetime, being that dedicated to your art and to hear so much criticism
and to still continue with his art. I think that his great painting was
Starry Night and (in my mind) he had starry eyes and he saw the positive
even though he had a difficult time with his art.
Now he is celebrated and there is a museum of entirely his own works in
Amsterdam, but I think he had a difficult time in his life. When you or
I think about challenges in our lives I think about Vincent Van Gogh.
Imagine having all of your paintings essentially rejected, except by
your brother. I want to have starry eyes in my life. I want to be
hopeful and I want to believe my art will touch billions of people
around the world through time. That is what we hope as an artist. In his
lifetime he didn’t really see that. We hope as artists and we hope as
people we are able to connect with others.
That is what “Starry, Starry Eyes,” is about. I believe his eyes were
rosy or starry eyes.
He had so many great paintings, Sunflowers and my own cultural change is
reflected in his painting The Potato Eaters. At one time you were not
supposed to paint common people just eating potatoes. You were only
allowed to paint religious figures or nobility, the aristocracy. When he
started painting The Potato Eaters, people who were peasants working in
the fields, that was a big and radical change in art. (she laughs
lightly) I think it is cool that art can be cool in very simple ways.”
Lisa Hilton takes a moment to acknowledge the contributions of another
one of her musicians, “Just after the pandemic I started working with a
trumpeter, instead of the sax, as I just wanted to try something
different. Now I have been working with Igmar Thomas on trumpet for
three albums. I am happy. He is an amazing trumpeter, but he is an
amazing person.”
She continues, “It
is really a great group that we have going and we had a very successful
tour last March with sold out, full houses. It was great to be back on
tour again. I feel like we grew, as a band and as people. I think that
was reflected when we went into the recording studio in August.
We play very intuitively as people and now after playing together as a
band we kind of know what the other person is going to do. We don’t
actually know, but we think we might know. It is seamless.”
We wondered if the song “Little Beach Morning,” might hold some personal
meaning for Lisa Hilton and she explains, “There is one place that I go
and it has a really special energy, but a lot of people have that place.
I have some friends that live in San Francisco and they had the only
place that they could go out with the little coffee shop around the
corner with a small outdoor seating area. They went twice a day to that
little coffee shop. Many of us have a little spot where we like to go in
the morning and the energy ju I am glad that “Little Beach Morning,” is getting some attention, because they are all just good memories for me that are in that song. I really think Rudy did a marvellous job on the drums.
It is not called Starbucks Morning. It is not a lively, boisterous
(morning). It is a quiet waking up to really nice energy.”
Lisa, let’s talk about the title song, “Lucky All Along.”
“I am always looking for things that are positive and freely given in
our lives. We strive a lot in our lives, but I like to be thankful for
those things that just come naturally and I try and look for the good
all around. You aren’t going to hear any anger and hatred in my music.
There is enough of that out there. I am just trying to focus on the
positive things. I am starting to think about my life and things happen
in my life and I think, wow I have been lucky all along. You think of
certain challenges you have in your life, whether it is back in middle
school or health issues or financially and you got through them. When
you think back you go, I have been lucky all along. When you use the
word lucky in that context you are really saying how grateful you are in
your life right now and how grateful you are in your life. It is about
how you got yourself through those times and the accomplishments you
have had in your life.
That song is about being incredibly grateful for where you are in your
life at this moment and thinking back about all of the different things.
There is a part of that song that I call old timey. It sounds a little
ragtime. That is the olden times in your life when you were a kid and
you wondered what you were even going to do in your life. It is a
reference to when you were lost at some point in your life, but you came
through and you are okay. When you think back on your life, sometimes it
makes you feel like you are old or something.
I grew up in a small town and we didn’t even have any kind of music
program. I never saw a professional musician in my life. I never went to
a music camp or Jazz camp. Everyone I have worked with has gone to camps
from when they were very young. When it was determined that they were
incredibly gifted in music, they were given all kinds of programs, but
not where I grew up.
Growing up I loved playing the piano and I was passionate about the
piano and I am about all of the things that I have done.
I have recorded so many times in New York City and I performed at
Carnegie Hall and worked with all of these amazing legends of our time.
I am pretty grateful. I have been pretty lucky all along even
during those times when I was unsure of things.
It is my 30 th album and I am going to be an overnight
sensation, any year now (she chuckles). People do mention that I work
hard and most of the time it doesn’t feel like hard work, it is just
what I love. There are certain times of the year when there are more
marketing types of things going on. This time of year (Christmas) I get
the joy of hearing that people are listening for the first time and
loving it. Each album is a gift to my listeners. During the holidays you
think of people that you want to buy gifts for you and you try to think
of what they might like. When we are creating music and playing, we are
trying to make you happy. We want what touches our lives to touch your
life too.
When I am in my composing season, spring and summer I can work for hours
and hours, because it is so much fun,” she says.
So Lisa Hilton
after your 30 th album you are still an overnight sensation
(smile), but more than that over the years we have come to recognize
something else beyond your gifts as a composer and pianist, you have
another gift, in your gentle, quiet way, with your light laughter, your
ability to reflect upon your music and your life, you have the gift of
bringing people into your world, of making them feel they belong, so the
music you create, that touches your life, does indeed do as you wish, it
touches our lives too.
#LisaHilton #LisaHiltonMusic #LisaHiltonComposer #RivetingRiffs #RivetingRiffsMagazine #LisaHiltonPianist #LisaHiltonPianista #LisaHiltonCompositora #JazzPiano #LisaHiltonInterview
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That has got to change. It really does. (Because women do not get played
on the radio as much) they are not getting paid for their writing. It is
not a lot of writing, so it is not a lot of money, but they are not
receiving the royalties that men would. For instance, the estate of a
Mies Davis compared to a female composer from that time (would be much
greater). 
st kind of unfolds. When you first get to a
place first thing in the morning and maybe your energy is a little on
the slow side and it kind of percolates. I wanted to recreate that
energy, which I did and I played it for the people that I hang around
with at that time of the morning and everybody seemed to connect with
it.