The Liz Swados Project, a newly-recorded tribute album to the visionary artist, will be available on digital and streaming formats on Friday, May 22.
The album features vocalists Starr Busby, Sophia Anne Caruso, Damon Daunno, Amber Gray, Stephanie Hsu, Jo Lampert, Alicia Olatuja, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Grace McLean, and Ali Stroker, in addition to songwriter/performersThe Bengsons, Heather Christian, Michael R. Jackson, Taylor Mac, Dave Malloy, Shaina Taub, and the late Michael Friedman, among others who have been all been influenced and inspired by Swados as a performer, composer, lyricist, teacher, and trailblazer.
The album will feature the world premiere recordings of 14 songs. It is produced by Lauren Fitzgerald, Kris Kukul and Matt Stine, with Kurt Deutsch and Rosalind Lichter serving as executive producers. Kris Kukul, Ms. Swados’s longtime music director, provides orchestrations and arrangements. To pre-order the album, please visit ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/lizswadosproject.
“I just remember Elizabeth as a person with an inexhaustible creative energy. The voice that emerged – unique, female, eternally young and tied to childhood – has not been duplicated in the theater.” – Meryl Streep
“THE LIZ SWADOS PROJECT”TRACK LIST
Music and lyrics by Elizabeth Swados, unless noted
1. “We Are Not Strangers” – Heather Christian(fromRunaways, 1978)
2. “Every Now and Then” – Dave Malloy(fromRunaways, 1978)
3. “Oh, King Daddy” – Amber Gray(from The Concert at the Bottom Line, 1978)
4. “The Red Queen” – Taylor Mac(fromAlice in Concert, 1980 – adapted fromAlice in Wonderlandby Lewis Carroll)
5. “In This My Green World” – Stephanie Hsu, withPreston Martin(fromAlice in Concert, 1980 – music by Elizabeth Swados, lyrics by Kenneth Patchen from his poem)
6. “Take Me to Paris” – Ali Stroker(fromThe Beautiful Lady, 1984 – based on Russian poems translated by Paul Schmidt)
7. “Souf” – Jo Lampert(fromNomad, 2015 – music by Elizabeth Swados, lyrics by Erin Courtney)
8. “You Gave Me Love” –Alicia Olatuja(fromLullaby and Goodnight, 1982)
9. “You Do Not Have To Be Good” – Shaina Taub(fromAtonement, 2007 – music by Elizabeth Swados, lyrics by Mary Oliver)
10. “Song of the Child Prostitute” – Sophia Anne Caruso(fromRunaways, 1978)
11. “The Dance” – The Bengsons(fromNightclub Cantata, 1977)
12. “Salvador” – Ashley Pérez Flanagan, withRachael DuddyandHannah Whitney(fromMissionaries, 1997)
13. “Isadora” – Damon Daunno(fromThe Beautiful Lady, 1984 – based on Russian poems translated by Paul Schmidt)
14. “Lonesome of the Road” – Michael R. Jackson (fromRunaways, 1978)
15. “War Gets Old” – Grace McLean(fromDispatches, 1979 – music by Elizabeth Swados, lyrics by Michael Herr)
16. “A Change Shall Come” – Starr Busby(fromThe Beautiful Lady, 1984 – based on Russian poems translated by Paul Schmidt)
17. “Bird Lament” – Elizabeth Swados
18. “Amen” – Choir(fromThe Haggadah: A Passover Cantata, 1980)
19. “Things I Didn’t Know I Loved” – Michael Friedman, withRachael DuddyandDara Orland(fromNightclub Cantata, 1977 – music by Elizabeth Swados, lyrics by Nazim Hikmet; recorded as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s The Appel Room)