When Lisa Fischer was growing up in Brooklyn, she was “like a sponge,” she says, “soaking up whatever syrup was around.” The syrup was music. Her grandparents listened to jazz and soft rock — Billie Holiday, but also Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis. Fischer’s parents listened to pop and rock and roll, like Bobby Lewis and the Supremes. Being influenced by those artists was inevitable, Fischer says. “I couldn’t help it.”

She studied vocal performance at the High School of Music and Art (now called LaGuardia High School) and started her career as a backup singer for the Marvelettes, a Motown girl group. In 1985, having gained some recognition for her powerful voice, Fischer auditioned as a backup for Luther Vandross and got the job. She has sung on tour with Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, and Nine Inch Nails. She performed with the Rolling Stones for 26 years, singing in her last show with them in 2015.

When Fischer was featured in director Morgan Neville’s 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, which focuses on the lives of backup singers, she realized that she wanted to chart her own path as an artist. That year, Fischer began performing as lead vocalist with Afro-Caribbean, jazz, and progressive rock band Grand Baton, led by JC Maillard, who was born in Guadeloupe and moved to the U.S. 16 years ago.

When Fischer met Maillard, she fell in love with his exploratory approach to music-making. “He was such a dreamer,” she says. On May 24, Fischer and Grand Baton will perform at Provincetown Town Hall.

Grand Baton has Thierry Arpino on percussion, Aidan Carroll on upright and electric bass, and Maillard on vocals, guitar, and keyboard. Maillard also plays the SazBass — an electroacoustic instrument with eight steel strings inspired by the Turkish saz or baglama and Greek bouzouki, according to Maillard’s website. He had the instrument designed and created by French luthier Herve Prudent.

Fischer feels at home with Grand Baton, she says. She’s been playing with them for over 10 years. “I’ve had a chance to step into a place of knowingness with them,” she says. Fischer can change up a melody or jump to a different part of a song “without having to say a word,” she says. “And if I happen to make a mistake, they’re right there to cradle me.”

Fischer and Grand Baton cross the boundaries between musical genres. Their explorations are “surprising and childlike,” Fischer says. “We just get to have fun.” Maillard incorporates rhythms from the Caribbean and Africa, while Fischer brings her background of jazz and classic rock. The band also plays “psychedelic soul,” says Fischer, which includes “spacey sounds and subtle messages.”

Fischer owes her comfort with musical experimentation to her background. “My whole life, I’ve been singing support or background vocals,” she says. “Because of that, I ended up in all these different rooms with different artists, different flavors, and different textures. It’s like a buffet for your ears and your soul,” she says. And she’s not a picky eater.

In 2018, Fischer and Maillard collaborated with the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra in Tbilisi, Georgia. Maillard composed an arrangement of the Rolling Stones’ song “Gimme Shelter,” transforming a gritty, fast-paced song about war into something atmospheric and mournful.

“The music sounds like a storm,” says Fischer. But at the end of Maillard’s arrangement, the orchestra swells, and the song suddenly becomes almost joyful. “It ends up being about embracing love and praying for the love of each other,” Fischer says. Over soft string instruments and Maillard’s eerie guitar picking, Fischer’s voice traverses octaves with ease, delivering the lyrics like a hymn.

For their performance in Tbilisi, Maillard also arranged “Dido’s Lament,” an aria from Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, composed in the late 17th century. “There’s something about the piece that has a gospel energy to it,” says Fischer. While she sings with the precision necessary for opera, her rich vibrato and dynamic facial expressions give the song a distinctly soulful quality. “It felt comfortable to mix classical and gospel together,” she says. “It was heavenly for me.”

In Provincetown, Fischer and Grand Baton will play old arrangements, including the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and “Jumping Jack Flash,” as well as newer arrangements and originals, Fischer says.

Maillard will debut a song about his experience living in Guadeloupe and the U.S. He’ll play a banjitar — a six-string banjo tuned like a six-string guitar. “The song has rock energy and soul energy,” Fischer says. “It’s got a little bit of funk, rhythms from Guadeloupe, and an Americana twang.” The song isn’t named yet. “But Maillard is so free,” Fischer says, “he’ll just go ahead and play it anyway. He may end up naming it while on stage.”

When she sings, Fischer is also free. Her hands move constantly, grabbing invisible notes in the air, tracing the shapes of melodies. “It’s a mood thing,” she says. “The melodies and harmonies dictate how my body wants to move. And I listen to that.

“The biggest thing I hold on to is longevity,” says Fischer. “It’s an art form to be present in the music without losing your voice.” She warms up diligently before shows. A healthy voice “is what connects you to the music, which connects you to the audience, which connects everyone’s heart,” she says.

Connecting Hearts

The event: Lisa Fischer and Grand Baton in performance
The time: Saturday, May 24, 7 p.m.
The place: Provincetown Town Hall, 260 Commercial St.
The cost: $35 to $49 at tickets.payomet.org