About
About
IZZY CRUZ
zzy Cruz is a multi-instrumentalist and faceted artist.
She is most fluent in expression of songwriting with specialty in rhythm, well rounded compositions and deeply meaningful lyrics. While this is her medium of most influence.
Most of her works sprout from artistic forms of many origins.
Tactile forms of visual art such as drawing, painting, collage making and design integrate themselves to wildly original ways to inspire her process in the creations.
Worldly perspectives create stimulating and authentic performances live and within the studio.
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The daughter of hairstylists, her mother being a business owner and artistic director; she has been brought up with an outside vantage point to creativity.
She believes attention to detail is extremely important to setting work apart from whatever is out there. Innovation needs a combination of rawness and analysis to where the wind of trends may be blowing-- then to use the power of intuition to counteract the moment and create something classic.
WHAT IS IZZY'S MUSICAL INSPIRATION?
From birth Cruz has been exposed with very eclectic genres and eras of music. Some of her childhood favorites are Motown, Classic Rock, Deep Funk, Southern Rock, Old Country, Punk, Classical, and R & B classics. When first studying the drums one of her favorite styles to play was funk with the likes of Zigaboo from The Meters and James Brown’s Funky Drummer. Funk Jazz, African and Latin music became some of her biggest influence when drumming, and continue their presence in her writing styles today.
When it came to singing, Soul Queens and Kings grabbed her developing voice. Aretha, Etta James, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway, and Janis Joplin are just naming a few of the many artists that shaped her ear and voice.
Adele and Amy Winehouse were idols with their impact on modern music and intrigued Cruz and how they continued retro soul elements into todays music. Sharon Jones was a bright light in paving her gusto into singing, after seeing the artist perform with such power and grace.
In Terms of song writing, two of Izzy’s most beloved idols that passionately continues today is Allen Stone, and Nai Palm of Hiatus Kaiyote,and Theo Katzman whose influences are similar and are translated in new and authentically original ways. Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga are heavy hitting powerhouses that redefine what it means to be woman performer today and greatly inspire Cruz.
The intellectuality within compositions from contemporary jazz fusion and funk bands such as Snaky Puppy, Lettuce, and Vulfpeck are bands were introduced to her at the time where she studied jazz drumming at SPCPA. These bands were discoveries that took her writing to another level and unleashed another layer of intelligence to her music. She uses her voice to write parts for all instruments and is her ultimate tool for compositions. All of these bands she highly recommends a listen!
WHAT INSTRUMENTS DOES SHE PLAY?
Cruz has always had core roots in percussion, since her father played in a band, where percussion was readily available to her. She started lessons on the drumset at the age of 8, her mentor, Al Church taught her a wide range of instruments including guitar, piano and bass, where he would jam to help her piece together what sections of a band would sound like. She found her voice at the age of 13, where she would play solo shows with piano or guitar. Ukulele was naturally learned and used experimentally in her early works, as seen in T U S A.
Mentors
Mentors
GWEN MATTHEWS
In fall 2016, the two met spontaneously at Crooner’s Lounge and Supper Club. Matthews has finished her set followed by Scottie Miller.A loving mentor ship was born from the moment they met.
Matthews uses her formal training with Seth Riggs for technique and her unconventional and intuitiveness to teach. She is a “fairy godmother” of sorts to Cruz. Their friendship has no regard to any generational gaps. They learn from one another through deep conversations of spirituality and life experiences and gather true wisdom. Matthews continues to guide and nurture Cruz’s natural abilities, allowing her to shine as her authentic self.
SCOTTIE MILLER
Scottie Miller and Cruz have a special connection, as Miller dates Cruz’s Mother, Pamela Cruz. They met in late 2016, and Cruz has collaborated and performed in solo and Scottie Miller Band shows. Miller is the co-writer on Justice. They continue to share ideas and writer together. Miller has taught her the complicated aspects of the music industry. Their partnership is as equal as two lively spirited creatives can be.
JD STEELE
She attended two arts highschools, Saint Paul Conservatory and Perpich Center for Arts Education. Where she studied jazz drumming, music and dance. Her freshman year she met JD Steele of the gospel group The Steele Family, where she would further explore songwriting, and song recording while being a vocal student. Cruz joined Steele’s directed MacPhail Community Youth Choir and sang at private events with the most diverse choir in the Twin Cities, and one of the most in the country.
WAIN MACFARLENE
Songwriting came naturally to Cruz, but it wasn’t until around the age of 13 when her stories and musicality started to rationalize emotions as an outlet of her reality. This is when she met Wain MacFarlene, lead guitarist and singer of Ipso Facto, a popular reggae-punk band that still holds incredible integrity and genius in the Minneapolis music scene. Wain held Friday night jams at The Northeast Palace, a dive bar in Northeast Minneapolis, where heavy hitter musicians would get together and create a certain kind of spiritual magic. Not long after MacFarlene had taken Cruz under his wing, she started singing backups to popular Bob Marley and classic rock songs. He pushed her and inspired her to bring an bold introverted girl to sing, scream and play her heart to its fullest extent. This was a safe and high-energy playground where the first songs emerged and were experimented. “This is Love”, “Beast To Me” and “Drive Me Wild” were debuted, and were shaped into what they are today with the help of MacFarlene’s outlandish and supremely entertaining ways of directing.
AL CHURCH
Cruz assembled a drumset and began lessons with artist Al Church at the age of eight. This mentorship would bloom a plethera of flowering opportunities in the future when intelligent and unconventional Church taught her the likes of multiple instruments and opened the world of music that shaped the way Cruz explored music. The two now are songwriting partners and she plays percussion in Church’s band.
BLUES SOCIETY
The summer before Cruz’s junior year, Minneapolis’ blues camp welcomed her. Held around the country, the camp brings mentorship to youth from blues musicians. In conjunction with blues jams in the Twin Cities small ensembles get to learn and perform classics of American roots and soul. She currently is a member of the camp and is a representative of Minnesota in the International Blues Contest in Memphis, Tennessee with one of the bands created in Blues U.
