Monday, June 27, 2016

LeBron James got nothin' on Elizabeth Mis!



Elizabeth Mis at Elkhart Jazz Festival




Cleveland Ohio has much to celebrate! Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cleveland obviously has invested in music.
Cleveland is home to the Cavaliers who have just won an amazing come from behind victory. And of course Cleveland has LeBron James who makes each play seem smooth and classy.
Smooth and classy describes someone else from this proud city of Cleveland.
Elizabeth Mis (pronounced “miss”) also claims Cleveland as home.

Elizabeth is a very accomplished soprano saxophonist!
My wife, Sherry, and I had opportunity to hear her play at the Elkhart Jazz Festival this last weekend.
She describes her music as “a fresh sound for smooth jazz”. And I surely agree with that point though I find it a bit modest.
Elizabeth is superlative in talent, charisma, stage presence and smile. She delivers an unsurrendering optimism with a constant smile that invites the audience to smile along.
Many professionals will tell you that this saxophone is a truly challenging instrument to play.
Elizabeth makes it sound smooth and classy, like LeBron James “in the zone”. Elizabeth seems to cause this unwieldy instrument to reach beyond what it was designed for as she gracefully moves her fingers across the responsive keys. Each note seamlessly moves from high to lower giving the audience a sense of immediate presence. We anticipated some new musical discovery as each note was achieved. There were smiles all around. This is a crowd that is accustomed to very professional music and Elizabeth exceeded not only expectations but higher levels of talent that one would think possible. This is a crowd that is hard to impress yet we were much impressed!
A very pleasant experience! I describe her music and the atmosphere it generates as “elastic groove”.
This elastic groove feeling is best discovered in her song “Buggin’”.
Elizabeth enjoys driving a 1969 Volkswagen bug. I imagine her driving on a winding road by a blue lake on one side and rolling hills on the other as soprano saxophone music graces wispy clouds moved by a gentle breeze.
You can find out more about Elizabeth Mis at:

And tell her Mike sent you!