Liz Wu

Liz Wu’s music is as captivating as it is rare. Comfortable with a variety of styles as well as a wide selection of instruments, she slides effortlessly between executing a rapid-fire bebop riff, a bluesy ballad, and a complex syncopated Latin rhythm. A Cininnati native who has traveled around the world, Wu encompasses the flavor of many exotic locales in her melodies, from the Mayan ruins of Guatemala and the beaches of Portugal to the grit of cities like London and Paris. She is well-versed in world percussion and has an impresive palette to choose from. Wu produces music that is fresh and colorful. Her speciality is an uncommon instrument with a hauntingly beautiful tone, the vibraphone. Wu has a sound that is etheral and deep, and plays with great feeling and precision. Trained at the College-Conservatory of Music in Jazz performance, her improvisatory skills are inspiring – she plays with respect to the talent of Milt Jackson – but always with the unique flair that is inarguably her own. With impeccable time, flowing lines, and profound intuition, Wu captures the mood of a piece as if exposed on aural film. Vocally, Wu has been compared to Flora Purim, Bebel Gilberto, and Suzanne Vega. Influenced by the above-mentioned singers as well as Chet Baker, her vocals are heart-felt yet understated, conveying the emotion behind the lyrics with simplicity and style. Whether executing a tricky turnaround or tapping out a mesmerizing Middle Eastern rhythm, Wu expresses the feeling in her music with a singular consistency: her sound straddles the tension between contrasts – gentle while dynamic, passionate while controlled, innovative while founded firmly in tradition. Her music is at turns sweet and tempestuous – but always, always entrancing. One thing is certain: Wu is like nothing you will have heard anywhere else. Liz Wu currently leads the Latin Jazz band Poco Loco and plays with Acarya (acoustic rock).