Press
"The so-called new-age musical movement of pop-folk-classical hybrids has already produced a major star in the solo pianist George Winston. Liz Story, who appeared at the Bottom Line last Tuesday evening, also offers new-age keyboard music that defies category, but it is somewhat more elevated and technically accomplished than Mr. Winston's folksy noodlings. A student of both jazz and classical music, Ms. Story is a West Coast impressionist who composes and plays tuneful, song-length non-improvisational pieces that are conservative in their tonal rootedness and wide-ranging in their stylistic borrowings. One hears echoes of Chopin, Debussy, Gershwin, Scott Joplin, the minimalist side of Keith Jarrett and even Joni Mitchell in her compositions. But the strongest underlying influence Ms. Story displayed at Tuesday's early show was that of Spanish folk and classical music. Harmonically and rhythmically, her pieces suggest the austere, formal flavor of flamenco music and its keyboard extensions in the classical jazz of Chick Corea. She gave even her airier music a resolute percussive edge, eschewing syncopation and swinging rhythms to give each song a scrupulous sense of compositional unity."
— THE NEW YORK TIMES, November 17, 1986
Publicity photo c. 1988
“Her marvelously lissome performance and compositional style place her right up there with Keith Jarrett and John Jarvis… Rhythmically and melodically, there is a wonderful ebb and flow to her compositions. Story has an extraordinary gift for creating music that is at once thoughtful and moving.”
— PEOPLE MAGAZINE
“Liz Story is one of our more soulful pianists, her playing redolent of youthful angst and weltschmerz, with soaring sonorities evoking a romanticism that is delicate and pensive, rife with the sorrow of first heartbreak, before the scar tissue. She’s a storyteller, a compelling one.”
— THE BOSTON GLOBE
“Story’s piano says volumes without uttering a single spoken syllable.”
— THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS
“In the glut of solo pianists that followed in the wake of George Winston, Liz Story has remained both emotionally complex and harmonically austere.”
— JOHN DILIBERTO, “ECHOES”
“Arresting. Story displayed not only a graceful command of the keyboard but also a thoughtful improvisor’s gift.”
— THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
“Story is a master of her chosen language. Her compositional style has been compared to that of Keith Jarret and John Jarvis… It does not require a linguistics expert to decipher the language Story so eloquently speaks.”
— JAZZIZ
“Contemplative pauses, whispery trills and articulate right-hand figures that betray classical training.”
— THE WASHINGTON POST
“Liz Story is closer to Liszt than Jarret. Moods ranged from a stately 'Church of Trees' to the bouncy 'Frog Park,' a carefree romp that Story tempered with dark, low-pitched rumbling.”
— THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
“A personal style centered in ringing chordal passages, but still graced with poise.”
— BILLBOARD
“A beautifully lyrical pianist and composer, Liz Story fuses her classical music background with a wide range of elements, embracing jazz, flamenco, folk, pop, and impressionistic styles. Displaying a striking gift for creating music that is at once thoughtful and moving, Liz tells compelling stories in the middle ground between jazz harmonies and classical technique." — YOSHI’S