Lisa's Schedule

Lisa Ferraro

Extraordinary jazz vocalist, Lisa Yvonne Ferraro, is a soulful original and has one of the most distinctive voices heard today,” said jazz radio personality and founder/president of the Pittsburgh Jazz Society, Tony Mowod.

Lisa became a professional at age eight, singing with Italian dancing groups. As she grew up, she sang for private parties and in dance bands. At age seventeen, she began performing in clubs. Since then, she has recorded and performed nationally and internationally with big band jazz ensembles, rock and soul bands, and in a duo with vocalist and guitarist, Erika Luckett.  She has released 10 albums, beginning with Balance in 1998, an uplifting mix of modern rock and ballads. In the early 1990s, she began to develop a passion for jazz standards, and this was reflected in her next two recordings, LYF Standards and Timeless, released in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The 2002 album included an original composition, “If Just this One Time,” which she performed with Marvin Hamlisch at Heinz Auditorium in Pittsburgh. Another of her recordings, “Jazz Up the Holidays,” was nominated for an International Independent Music Award in 2006. Her latest expression, Serenading The Moon, culminates in a collaboration with some of the finest players on the jazz scene today: legendary saxophonist, Houston Person, Lewis Nash on drums, Ray Drummond on bass, James Chirillo on guitar and John DiMartino on piano.  As a composer, Lisa Ferraro has written music for ABC TV’s Wife Swap; Polygram Films; The Roberto Clemente Foundation; and the play The Other Side of the River, which aired on PBS stations. A talented songwriter, Lisa was commissioned by Major League baseball and the Pittsburgh Pirates to write and perform the song, “More Than A Man,” commemorating the late great, Roberto Clemente.

Lisa is also a sought-after music director, speaker, and workshop facilitator for inspirational conferences worldwide. She has teamed up with Erika Luckett to write a powerful workshop on Cultivating Creativity.  Lisa sees a spiritual thread running through everything. “God has always spoken to me through music,” she says, “so I find music the best way to express love. My religion is music, the language of my heart.” Invited twelve years ago to perform at an event sponsored by the Centers for Spiritual Living, she has been asked to return as music director for the organization’s events across the US and Canada every year since then. In 2009, her group Ruby was selected from among thousands of musical groups to perform songs from their recording On the Way of Love: Songs Inspired by Rumi at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia.

Lisa has a distinct vocal style which is soulful, powerful and warm, with a vocal range that extends over four and a half octaves. In performance, she tries to connect with the audience individually and personally. “We co-create my performances,” she says, “so that no two are exactly alike.”

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