FRANCE’S MAHALIA
LIZ McCOMB
SCHEDULES RARE CANADIAN CONCERT APPEARANCES
AT THEATRE DE l'ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE TORONTO
France’s answer to Mahalia Jackson – the Cleveland-born, raspy-voiced gospel singer/pianist Liz McComb is bringing her bold and bluesy Pentecostal fervor to the Queen City for a three night stand of concerts that cover tunes from her entire thirty year catalogue of sacred and inspirational songs. The gifted artist who has shared stages with the likes of Ray Charles and B.B.King is prepping for intimate evenings with a stripped down band including Darick Campbell, the key lap steel guitarist of the famous Campbell Brothers, that will allow her spellbinding vocal instrument to be the center of attention.
The concerts take place Thursday, October 23 through to Saturday, October 25 @8:30 PM each evening at the Théâtre de l'Alliance Française de Toronto, in the AFT Spadina Campus located at 24 Spadina Road, Toronto. Ticket fees range from $25 for AFT Members and Seniors to $30 for Normal Admission.
McComb’s tenth album “Brassland” is a masterpiece. It’s comprised of well over a dozen spiritual standards such as “The Rivers of Babylon” and “Didn’t it Rain?” alongside Pop gems such as Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” and McComb’s own riveting originals like the urgent “I Need You” and the frenetic “If I Labor in the Vineyard.” All of these aural delights mesh together against the backdrop of an earthy brass band that redefines these classics and makes the newer material sound vintage.
Liz McComb has packed houses at such venerated venues such as the Olympia in Paris and the Montreux Jazz Festival. She’s been compared to Nina Simone and Mahalia Jackson. Perhaps, she embodies the spirit of them, but there's no doubt that Liz McComb places her own distinctive stamp on whatever she sings. The New York Times' scribe Ben Ratliff has written, "McComb moves from smoothness to Pentecostal abandon."
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