Liz Caruso

The way the story goes, Liz Caruso learned to read music before she learned to read. The toddler, who was playing Bach before she was able to spell her full name, caught the attention of anyone who happened to catch a glimpse of her little hands in action. Her main inspirations of the time were, first and foremost, Alvin (of the Chipmunks fame) and her grandfather, a professional jazz drummer playing the New York City scene. At age six, Liz left the piano to pursue her new romance that came in the form of a half sized, nylon string guitar. The two were inseparable for the next few years. Educated in both classical and jazz guitar, the pint-sized prodigy devoured Wes Montgomery transcriptions one after the next. In fact it was her rendition of Wes's Four on Six that would lead her to be ranked as one of the two best high school Jazz guitarist in New York State. This was all fine and dandy, but Liz craved more. It was in her freshman creative writing class that she discovered the art of poetry and began to write daily. These poetic scribbles quickly turned into lyrics as she layered them on top of chord progressions her hands knew. She became addicted, carrying around a tape recorder at all times to quickly record lyrical ideas, melodies and potential chord progressions. This was when she knew she was in trouble.