Lisa Zanghi and the L A Players

Congratulations - you're Alabama Music Office's featured artist this
week. Best of luck with everything!
- Sylvia Parker, Music Historian

Reviews: Lisa Zanghi ~ A Different Side of Me
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2008 @ 15:28:07 EST
Topic: Reviews

Artist: Lisa Zanghi

CD: A Different Side of Me

Home: Mobile, Alabama

Style: R&B/Pop/Blues

Quote: "With hooky guitar licks, solid piano and a sax that’ll curl your toes, Lisa’s got one fine band."


By Jamie Anderson

If you salivate at the thought of Bonnie Raitt sliding that sultry voice over a slow groove or Marcia Ball pounding out some rockin’ bayou blues, then how ‘bout someone who can do both? Lisa Zanghi’s your woman and damn, if you aren’t swaying to the beat, something’s wrong with your groove gene. With hooky guitar licks, solid piano and a sax that’ll curl your toes, Lisa’s got one fine band. She holds down her end well with piano, vocals and the occasional acoustic guitar. Add just enough drums and bass to anchor it all down and girl howdy, we’re ready to go.

“Heartache” starts out the disc with a jumpin’ sax from Jim Andrews and tasteful oh-so-fine guitar from Ronnie Levine with Lisa’s voice soaring over it all. She uses a breathier vocal in “There Goes Forever,” a ballad that’s a plea for a lover to take her back. Acoustic guitars dominate “I Wanna Feel That Way,” providing a riff that glues everything together in a nice pop/folk way.

There’s a bluesy feel in “Lying to Myself” and in “I’ve Got You.” “Tanqueray” is the only non-original here (credited to Keith Richards and Johnnie Johnson) but it’s a standard blues where the band gets a chance to show off their chops. It’s the kind of number I’ve heard bands do when they’re warming up, keepin’ it going until the vocal mike stops feeding back and the bass player wakes up. Not that anyone in this band is ever sleeping.

I hear a lot of Ball in the bayou blues “A Little Bit of You” and Raitt in “I’ve Got You.” “Share My Love” has a great R&B groove but it relies too much on lyrical clichés (“I’ve got so much love to give you” and the like) but then, it’s hard to write a good love song and heck, when it’s presented with such great musicianship you can forgive them a little.

The disc ends with the don’t-mess-with-me-or-I’ll-kick-your-ass “A Woman Does Too” where she admonishes her man that she can pull the same bull on him and see how he likes it. The cut ends with an all out jam, the guitar, sax and piano trading licks. Hot stuff, y’all.

Indie-Music Profile


- Indie-Music

Looking back on BayFest
The two things that stand out about BayFest 2006 are how big it was, and how enthusiastic some of the participants were about making it bigger.
Having a healthy festival under clear skies is great. Having stage organizers — notably Rick Hodges of the 2-year-old Cafe Stage and Catt Sirten of the brand-new Radio Avalon WHIL Tent — who are eager to expand is great.
But cramming even more people into an event that at times last weekend was visibly bursting at the seams? That has to be ap¬proached with care.
Growth isn't guaranteed, of course. As relaxed and confident as he was on Sunday as his event wound down, BayFest board president Bobby Bostwick was mindful that a day or two of foul weather can set any festival back on its heels.
• The big, exuberant sound
Lisa Zanghi and her band brought
to the Pepsi Stage and, in a rare
double play, to the Cafe Stage. For
whatever it's worth, she's now on
my list of must-see locals.


- Mobile Press Register

Looking back on BayFest
The two things that stand out about BayFest 2006 are how big it was, and how enthusiastic some of the participants were about making it bigger.
Having a healthy festival under clear skies is great. Having stage organizers — notably Rick Hodges of the 2-year-old Cafe Stage and Catt Sirten of the brand-new Radio Avalon WHIL Tent — who are eager to expand is great.
But cramming even more people into an event that at times last weekend was visibly bursting at the seams? That has to be ap¬proached with care.
Growth isn't guaranteed, of course. As relaxed and confident as he was on Sunday as his event wound down, BayFest board president Bobby Bostwick was mindful that a day or two of foul weather can set any festival back on its heels.
• The big, exuberant sound
Lisa Zanghi and her band brought
to the Pepsi Stage and, in a rare
double play, to the Cafe Stage. For
whatever it's worth, she's now on
my list of must-see locals.


- Mobile Press Register

Lisa Zanghi of Mobile and Jim Andrews of Pensacola play Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind" during a set of jazz and R&B songs in Bienville Square in downtown Mobile during the season's first Brown Bag in Bienville on Wednesday. The city of Mobile's Neighborhood and Community Services office is sponsoring the lunchtime entertainment in the square from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each Wednesday through May 30. The remaining artist lineup includes a number of popular area musicians - Mobile Press Register

Lisa Zanghi of Mobile and Jim Andrews of Pensacola play Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind" during a set of jazz and R&B songs in Bienville Square in downtown Mobile during the season's first Brown Bag in Bienville on Wednesday. The city of Mobile's Neighborhood and Community Services office is sponsoring the lunchtime entertainment in the square from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each Wednesday through May 30. The remaining artist lineup includes a number of popular area musicians - Mobile Press Register