Lizzy Parks
Blending the female singer songwriter tradition with influences from the cutting edge of Björk to the soaring jazz melodies of Ella Fitzgerald.
Lizzy Parks came to our notice via her work with Ben Lamdin on his Nostalgia 77 and Nostalgia 77 Octet projects. Lizzy has loved and lived music all her life with the help of an old clarinet (in the very early years), piano, tenor sax and of course her vocal chords!
She left Devon in the south west of England for a taste of city life when she moved to Birmingham to study jazz at university. There she did most of her growing up (musically and the rest!) and had the pleasure of playing with some great musicians including Chris Bowden (a killer sax player) who asked her to sing on his ‘Slightly Askew’ album for Ninja Tune in 2001, it set the scene for her musical journey. Further sessions followed for various labels and artists including tracks such as Nostalgia 77’s ‘Hope Suite’ for Tru Thoughts, which was nominated for Gilles Peterson’s BBC Radio One’s Track of theYear 2005, Will Saul’s ‘Space Between’ (Simple) and Perry Hemus (Woodland Records). She then worked on her debut album ‘Watching Space’ in 2005 for an indie label called ‘The Birds’ and settled her feet firmly in North London where she works on plenty of new and exciting projects and collaborations with artists including our very own Nostalgia 77.
Lizzy has a habit of appearing on stage live with the Nostalgia 77 Octet and on occasion The Heritage Orchestra (Brownswood) and of course in her own band, as she says “Under the inspired name of ‘Lizzy Parks’! ;-)”. Lizzy has performed at some wonderful venues including in London; ‘The Jazz Café’, ‘Cargo’, ‘The National Theatre’, ‘The Royal Festival Hall’ & ‘The Spitz’, in Birmingham; ‘Ronnie Scotts’, ‘The Glee Club’ & ‘The Symphony Hall’, Brighton;‘Komedia’ & ‘Concorde 2’, Brighton (2007), Glastonbury Festival (July 2007),‘The Caves’ (Edinburgh), Vienna, Switzerland (May 2007), ‘The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, (Liverpool Nov 2006), Gateshead International Jazz Festival (2006), Stratford International Jazz Festival supporting The James Taylor Quartet (2006) and Cheltenham Jazz Festival as the 2006 ‘Jerwood rising star’ (2006). As well as internationally:‘Roskilda International Music Festival’, Denmark (July 2007), ‘Casa Da Musica’, Porto, Portugal (July 2007), ‘The Willsonic Festival’, Bratislava (June 2007), Athens International Music Festival (June 2007), ‘The Handelsbeurs’ Ghent, Belgium (March 2007) and ‘WDR Hall’ Cologne, Germany (Oct 2006).
Lizzy describes her sound as “Some people say my musical style blends the female singer-songwriter tradition going back to Carole King and Joni Mitchell, with influences from the cutting edge of Björk to the soaring jazz melodies of Ella Fitzgerald. To be honest, I love a lot, I listen a lot and I sing a lot and I’m always up for sharing what I can find with anyone who’ll take the time to listen”.
We are very pleased to have Lizzy Parks on the Tru Thoughts roster and we think you may just like her!!!!