Sensual, smoky, smoldering, sultry, earthy, ethereal, effervescent, and lush, these are words that come to mind when I listen to the music of Lizz Wright.

Her voice is as smooth as glass and lulls you into a sense of bliss. Listening to her is like burning incense. Before you know it the fragrance of her voice has permeated your insides. Like the smell of fresh incense saturates a room.

She is usually categorized in the jazz section of music stores but upon closer inspection you can hear in her music influences of blues, rock, country, folk, gospel, R&B, soul, and any other type of music that is meant to be more than overproduced studio sounds.

By Jair The Literary Masturbator™
Music For Your Soul, From The Soul…

I just recently relocated to the Bay Area of Northern California from Southern California. The transition at first was going pretty rough but now that I have gotten a really good job and started to learn the area more things have turned out better than I could have ever imagined.

You may not know the name Billy Strayhorn, but you certainly know his music. Even if you aren’t a jazz fan you have heard his signature Duke Ellington tune “Take The A Train”. It’s a song that lives in the strata of music as a seminal composition helping to define Ellington as one of jazz’s greatest influences.

It was September 1991, one of those moments that would change my life profoundly but at the time I didn't know it. I was searching, my soul was yearning but usually when you are missing something you don't know it until whatever it is you are seeking is found.

I am a certified "church boy". I grew up Baptist and for the most part I loved every minute of it. I was a choir director, faithful to BTU, Vacation Bible School, sold fish dinners, and had a gleaner during lent. My step-father was the Pastor and my mother a dutiful Pastor's wife (including being president of a couple of minister's wives organizations.) Even though I didn't get a lot of personal abomination messages I was taught that being gay was wrong in the sight of God

For those of us of a certain age and generation we not only grew up listening to music but looking at it as well. I often discuss how shows like "The Electric Company" and Saturday morning learning tools like "SchoolHouse Rock" No taught us multiplication, the constitution's preamble, and what the function for a conjunction was (hooking up words and phrases and clauses). All conveniently set to music to make it fun. Video didn't exactly kill the radio star like The Buggles predicted but it did change the way music was produced.

MTV was an upstart cable station that only played white artists before Michael Jackson broke through with his legendary song, "Billie Jean" from his landmark album, "Thriller". It's easy to forget what kind of an impact he had on music worldwide with all the "Wacko Jacko" references of today. Do you remember seeing him perform on the Motown 25 special? I expect an e-mail if you admit you had a Jheri Curl. (Don't front)! You know you practiced your moon walk, maybe even had one glove, did the choreography from "Beat It", or had a red leather jacket. It was different from anything we had experienced before.