Andrea Lisa – Mangere Arts Centre, 12 July 2024: Review

Andrea Lisa is a consummate musician, a Jazz guitar virtuoso combined with a Smooth Operator style controlled Soul voice.

More Sade, not so much a Norah Jones.

Andrea Lisa Groenewald was born near Johannesburg South Efrica and moved to New Zealand with her family aged eight.

Interestingly she is a Coloured, as defined by her country of origin. A large minority who are definitely not black but occupy an Interzone heading in the white direction. Precious McKenzie is one.

There have been theses written about this, but it can be summed up in Sly and the Family Stone’s Everyday People.

Different strokes for different folks/ And so on and so on (scooby dooby dooby)/ We got to live together.

In New Zealand she was exposed to Soul, R’n’B and the crossover styles of Pop in its myriad forms. Attended the School of Music in Auckland and majored in Jazz guitar and vocal performance.

She has quietly built up a reputation for herself inside the industry globally. Which means America most importantly.

Worked with Grammy nominated artists like Kirk Whalum. On his highly regarded Humanite album (2019), her own song Get Your Wings Up is prominent.

She has also worked with Ralph Johnson (from Earth Wind and Fire), Jonathan Butler (also South African) and Kool and the Gang.

I note an Auckland Creative Jazz Club gig around 2011 with the comments that she was a good vocalist and an even better guitarist, as she played a few complex Pat Metheny songs.

Thirteen years later we are seeing her debut album Silver Lining, being launched tonight.

Title track begins with a Funk overlay wah-wah guitar which extends out from there in smooth liquid glass tones.

Calvert Street is heavier on the Funk with a deep bass intro. Smooth guitar comes in and a good saxophone solo. Some of the ambience of Weather Report.

Her band are long time associates. Alex Churchill keyboards saxophone and flute, Nick Taylor 5 string electric bass.

Usual drummer cannot make it tonight, and he subbed by his teacher Josh Sorenson.

Authoritative and understated in classic human metronome fashion, like John Jabo Starks, one of the holy trinity of drummers behind James Brown.

So Sweet is the title track of her 2012 EP. A showcase for her voice. Soulful and the phrasing is smooth and not overly emotional. Sade does come to mind (she is also African in origin).

Also, Linda Womack from the legendary family dynasty. A certain toughness of the heart emotions which eschews being overly dramatic.

Aretha Franklin was a cool Jazz singer for a long time through the Sixties until she met Jerry Wexler and launched her classic period with I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You.

That Womack smooth Soul style is best heard on Fire.

Vortex was a hit for her on Billboard charts in America, and she credits it with giving her career a necessary turbo boost. A great R’n’B to Soul instrumental, and there are some Blues licks.

Her vocals are coming into their own with Chocolates in Heaven. Along with Meet Me Again (single 2019) her voice climbs to high peaks. Matched by the guitar.

The band cover Too Hot, from Kool and the Gang. A great bass line launches this. She pays tribute to George Funky Brown who wrote it.

Imaginary Me is also off the first EP. The bass takes a walk. A flute solo follows. Guitar continues the groove and takes it higher.

Something tells me there must be some Sly Stone buried in the music.

They finish with Water. Swings with a nice dance groove.

Andrea Lisa has been a long time coming in an increasingly challenging music industry.  You sense with her debut album Silver Lining that she has caught her wave.

Rev. Orange Peel