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Lisa Engelken

LITTLE WARRIOR, Lisa Engelken's highly-anticipated new album is scheduled for release on October 1, 2013!

Lisa has written, arranged & produced all 11 arresting tracks on Little Warrior, that will take you on a journey to the heavens above and back into the depths below, painting an aural chiaroscuro of the soul.

Engelken’s sonic palate colors cacophonous and symphonic, then suddenly strips down naked. Consonance and dissonance interweave, swirl and wrestle for position as her voice alternately cuts raw, soars powerful, or simply floats pristine.

With an uncanny emotional depth and technical fluency, Lisa draws upon the brutality and beauty of the human experience, to explore and embrace her angels and demons. Little Warrior is Engelken’s follow-up to Caravan, named among the “Best of 2010” by the Jazz Journalists Association and includes “From the Earth, Lisa’s exciting lyric version of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay.”

Where Caravan could be described as “mainstream with a twist,” Little Warrior marks a natural evolution of the singer-arranger’s artistic style that ventures into more complex thematic and harmonic territories. Engelken continues to push the boundaries of the jazz vocal canon, making an edgier, more personal statement that includes four of her original works.

Little Warrior also features “Undertow,” Lisa’s haunting new lyric version of Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti” and includes bold new adaptations of works by Abbey Lincoln, The Cars, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell.

Visit www.lisaengelken.com for more info.

LISA ENGELKEN is a force of nature, a fearless singer, a tonic performing artist, with an original compositional & arranging sensibility. Part freight train, part junkyard trombone, ENGELKEN alternately locomotes and floats through tunes.

Jazz critic Christopher Loudon writes in JazzTimes:

"She is an utter original. Blessed with superlative power, control and range. Engelken can, as mood requires, be as soft as dew or as intense as a sleet storm; her interpretive instincts are astounding."

—Andrew Gilbert, San Jose Mercury News writes:

Caravan is the work of an artist with her own sound and concept, a daring improviser with the technique to express even her most unorthodox ideas. More than a song stylist, she's a dramatic force whose musical vision is both shaped and animated by years of stage experience.

"BOLD, LUSH, EXOTIC, and just a little bit dangerous; like Evel Knievel and Janis Joplin. Like Evel, she is a fearless daredevil, but never reckless, knowing exactly whether her voice can jump through a ring of fire and over 30 elephants—or whether it can go 31. And like Janis, she gives every ounce of herself onstage.”

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3
Album Review

Lisa Engelken: Lisa Engelken - Little Warrior

Read "Lisa Engelken - Little Warrior" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Polymathic in her talent and approach, vocalist Lisa Engelken further cements her status as a far-reaching artist, established on the previous Caravan (Self Produced, 2010), with the present Little Warrior. Described as, “part freight train, part junkyard trombone," Engelken is 100% an American, hailing from the Kansas heartland where she obviously picked up fluency in Portuguese, French, Spanish and Italian, all of which she shares with us. What of the music? The music is pleasantly all over the place.

211
Live Review

Lisa Engelken at Dazzle

Read "Lisa Engelken at Dazzle" reviewed by Geoff Anderson


Lisa EngelkenDazzleDenver, COJuly 29, 2010 It's not easy to stand out as a female jazz singer. Even though jazz singing is not exactly a mass market commodity, singers are nearly as ubiquitous as Harleys at Sturgis. It takes a little something to stand out from the crowd. Like at Sturgis, bigger and louder won't necessarily do the trick. It might take a little finesse, a little nuance, maybe a bit of panache. If you add ...

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2

Interview

Ty's Take: From The Farm To Fame: Lisa Engelken

Ty's Take: From The Farm To Fame: Lisa Engelken

Source: C. L. Burnett, American Jazz Museum

Lisa Engelken (pronounced EN-gel-ken) is preparing to drop her second album this year and has set the sights even higher for her newest project, “Little Warrior: anima explorations” than she did for her critically acclaimed and well received first album, “Caravan.” “With ‘Little Warrior’ I hope to build upon the momentum of my last album ‘Caravan’,” that was very well received both popularly and critically,” she said. “The harmony and lyric content of “Little Warrior” is a bit more complex, ...

Performance / Tour

The Blue Room On Historic 18th And Vine Weekly Line Up

The Blue Room On Historic 18th And Vine Weekly Line Up

Source: C. L. Burnett, American Jazz Museum

The Blue Room’s weekly line up for the June 18th-23rd Kansas City, Mo June 15, 2012- The Blue Room, one of DownBeat Magazine’s top 100 Jazz Clubs, is continuing bringing in top notch acts. Lisa Engelken one of the top current female vocalist in Jazz will be performing on Friday June 22nd . Come see the woman whom The Jazz Times said, ...puts the 'extra' in extraordinary.” Monday June 18th will feature Dwight Foster and Rich Hill. Foster is a ...

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Recording

New Release: Lisa Engelken - Caravan

New Release: Lisa Engelken - Caravan

Source: Riffs on Jazz by John Anderson

Lisa Engelken is trying to seduce you, and with her latest CD, she no doubt will succeed. Caravan takes us on a journey through the sometimes bumpy territory of love. The first tune, “We'll Be Together Again," starts as a sad goodbye between lovers but quickly kicks into an uptempo “see you later" - and so the roller coaster ride begins. Engelken displays a similar playfulness in both vocals and song choices throughout. After a little samba break, the Duke Ellington ...

Ken Franckling's Best New Releases of 2010 List (listed alphabetically):

* Dave Bass Quartet, Gone (Dave Bass Music) * Lisa Engelken, Caravan (Little Angel) * Tamir Hendelman, Destinations (Resonance) * Dave Holland Octet, Pathways (Dare2) * Christine Jensen, treelines (Justin Time) * Pat Metheny, Orchestrion (Nonesuch) * Jean-Michel Pilc, True Story (Dreyfus) * Ellen Rowe Quartet, Wishing Well (PKO Records) * Omar Sosa & NDR Bigband, Ceremony (Otá) * Jacky Terrasson, Push (Concord Jazz)

link: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=72444

Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times Best New Releases of 2010:

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Primary Instrument

Vocals

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

Lisa coaches all levels of singers and knows her vocal technique. Lisa specializes in technique to improve vocal flexibility, range and intonation. She is also theatrically trained and can address how to connect to text.

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Lisa Engelken -...

Little Angel Records
2013

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