Sat, Jun 6, 2:30 AM
TWO SHOWS! Friday, June 5, 7:30pm Saturday, June 6, 2:00pm The Grammy and Oscar winning vocalist Ms. Lisa Fischer makes her Presidio Theatre debut with her trio Grand Baton. Ms. Lisa Fischer is at the peak of her powers, blazing her own path, reveling in the chance to dive into every vocal possibility. While she carries traces of the legendary stars with whom she’s collaborated over four decades, Ms. Lisa Fischer is a constellation in her own right, singing songs with “amazing power, energy, and projection” enthuses Keith Richards, after 26 years of making music with Ms. Lisa Fischer in the Rolling Stones. Whether she’s stretching out in an intimate duo with jazz piano maestro Taylor Eigsti, raising the roof with the spiritually charged Gullah funk combo Ranky Tanky, creating luminous soundscapes onstage with the dancers of Alonzo King LINES Ballet, or following her uninhibited muse with her trio Grand Baton and their organic fusion of Caribbean psychedelic soul and jazzy progressive rock, Fischer has taken her rightful place among America’s greatest vocalists. “A talent that comes once in a lifetme,” declares Roberta Flack. “Like Haley’s Comet, her brilliance is dazzling and brings light into the world.” At first glance Fischer might seem like a paradox. She spent much of her career exulting in the role of the ultimate team player as an elite backup singer for artists such as Luther Vandross, the Rolling Stones, Sting, Tina Turner or Nine Inch Nails. Even after the Brooklyn native scored a chart-topping R&B hit, “How Can I Ease the Pain,” and a 1992 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, she decided to focus on her already thriving career supporting the world’s biggest acts. But when her story was featured in the Oscar-winning 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, Fischer experienced a course-changing epiphany. “I was always looking at the next tour, the next gig,” she said. “The film gave me a chance to take stock and realize I could start defining my own path.” Seizing the moment to rediscover herself, Fischer embarked on her ongoing musical journey with string wizard and arranger JC Maillard’s Grand Baton, a group capable of following (and leading) her in just about any musical direction. Together they’ve gathered a far-ranging repertoire of songs, including many tunes she’d made her own during his backup years. “Grand Baton gave me my wings,” Fischer says. “They give me permission to do whatever I want.” While Ms. Lisa Fischer retains creative molecules from every artist she’s ever encountered, she transmutes via the alchemy of an artist blessed with a voice that is unbound by genre and stylistic convention. With her infinite textures, shades and hues, combined with the bountiful soul, affectionate humor and exquisite taste that defines her music, Lisa Fischer leads listeners to whole new universes of her own design.