A native of California, Liz began her musical training as a young child, mastering Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 11 by the age of 11. When her family moved to Germany during her teens, she added languages, philosophy, and poetry to her studies. On her return to the United States, she continued her piano studies at the Juilliard School of Music and enrolled at Hunter College. But after hearing the jazz pianist Bill Evans one night at the Bottom Line in New York City