Album Notes

Jazz critic Christopher Loudon writes in Jazz Times: "LISA 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.”

CARAVAN features 10 of Engelken's innovative arrangements that breathe new life into jazz standards (by Ellington, Porter, Carmichael) & boldly transform contemporary tunes (by Billy Idol, Joni Mitchell) into the jazz idiom. " (September 2010)

CARAVAN includes "From the Earth", a new lyric version of FREDDIE HUBBARD’s jazz-funk classic Red Clay. Lisa is grateful to have received both Mr. Hubbard’s personal review and his blessing to record it.

Engelken describes CARAVAN as "10 snapshots of Love: each capturing a unique phase of movement through that journey." The album demonstrates Lisa's insistence that the song’s Story be conveyed not only through Lyric, but through harmony and arrangement.

“…Engelken doesn’t just sing a song, she devours it! Part freight train, part junkyard trombone, the tumbleweed Engelken alternately locomotes and floats through tunes. Her operatic and theatrical training couldn’t polish off the rough edges as she wields a unique vocal style as tonic as a New York cab ride: intensified by pure joy, then crankiness, sadness, then irony.”

For live concert footage, please visit Lisa at: www.lisaengelken.com or www.myspace.com/lisaengelken

MUSICIANS featured on CARAVAN:
Piano: Adam Shulman, Jarrett Cherner
Bass: Sam Bevan, Gabe Davis
Drums: Matt Swindells
Trumpet: Mike Olmos
Tenor & Clarinet: David Alt
Trombone: Doug Beavers
Trumpet, Flugelhorn & Trombone: Joel Behrman
Guitars: Jon Monahan
Percussion: Brian Rice