Artist

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)

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Singer-poet Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) grew up in NY and Calif. in a house filled with jazz and poetry. Her father was an electronics engineer, attorney, and jazz photographer. Her mother wrote poetry. Elvin Jones held Lisa on his lap at a cocktail party. Cecil Taylor asked the young piano student if she would play Beethoven for him. Her family's values uplift her work: stand up for justice; express the currents that make you feel alive.
Poetry came first, with creative writing degrees from UC Santa Cruz and San Francisco State. Wesleyan Univ. Press published her book "The Transparent Body" (her next, "God in Her Ruffled Dress," came out in 2023 + an audiobook version with music). She says. “I tricked myself into singing: ‘This will help my poetry readings'.” Soon she was gigging throughout the Bay Area.
On 8 albums, Lisa B melds sung and spoken verse in jazz, hip-hop, and pop grooves. Critics call her “a true American original," “one of the most daring and deft performers" on the scene. Her key influences energize lyrics: Carmen McRae, Sheila Jordan, Gil Scott-Heron, Jill Scott, Aretha Franklin, Allen Ginsberg.
"’60s Magic Now!: The Y-Verse" reimagines 1960s classics in response to the Trump administration. Lisa reactivates the communal charge inside the songs with inventive arrangements and new poetic raps. Magical figures embodying freedom (Spooky, Mr. Fantasy, Ruby Tuesday, and Windy) are framed by calls for action from Bob Dylan and the Youngbloods and a rap/drum intro.

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