06-29-2023 Howard Magazine - Flipbook - Page 54
Lizzo and Jordan Waters, background, perform at the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in April. PHOTO BY AMY HARRIS/INVISION/AP
Waters, below, poses on stage before a concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. COURTESY OF JORDAN WATERS
online, she later learned from mentors like guitarist Ari
O’Neal, who has played for Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Fantasia,
Jay Z and Lizzo.
It was O’Neal who tipped her off to the chance to
audition for Lizzo.
The timing for the tour worked out as well. Waters,
who graduated Centennial High School in 2021, had just
completed her first year at Howard Community College,
where she was studying business.
Waters said playing with Lizzo has been both
challenging and fun.
“[It was] kind of challenging at the beginning because I
didn’t know what I was going to walk into,” she said. “I have
never played some of the chords they wanted for the guitar
riffs, but with practice and just being patient, after a while I
got it. Now it’s less work and more fun because I practiced
everything, so it’s about the performing and having fun on
stage.”
Guitarist Jay Rojas, who has played for Ari Lennox,
Coco Jones, Jazmine Sullivan, Kelly Rowland and Mario,
has served as a mentor to Waters since she was a teenager.
Rojas, 28, of Glen Burnie, who has been working as a
professional guitarist for more than seven years, said he has
seen her guitar playing improve dramatically since Waters
went on tour with Lizzo.
“The couple of months before she got on the tour versus
afterwards, she’s at this point a [completely different]
guitar player,” he said. “I’m really impressed with how she’s
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