The Tiptons
Tsunami
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1.Darling, Please Don't Wake Me |
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nml 0532 2005 51'10"
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THE TIPTONS are an all-female sax quartet with percussion, based in Seattle.
The group features Jessica Lurie and Amy Denio, original members and the lead composers of the
internationally renowned Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet (BTMSQ). They are joined
by Tobi Stone and Tina Richerson, and percussionist Elizabeth Pupo Walker. All of the members
share in composing and arranging - and their dynamic repertoire includes some fabulous singing
as well!
In March 2003, The Tiptons produced a five song EP featuring brand new material for the group,
and performed at The Women in Movement in New Mexico Music Festival and at the Coleman Hawkins
Jazz Festival in Topeka, Kansas, and toured the West Coast in October, 2003. In February, 2004,
they released Tsunami on their own label, and they performed 14 concerts in Italy, Germany,
Austria and Slovenia, to much acclaim. They were featured at the 2004 Earshot Jazz Festival
in Seattle, recently came back from a fantastic 5-week, 4-country tour in Europe (Feb/March 2005)
and will be touring the US west coast in May.
BTMSQ was originally founded in 1988, and chose its name to pay tribute to big band saxophonist
and pianist Billy Tipton, following the postmortem revelation that Tipton was actually a woman who
lived as a man for more than 50 years. Many believe that this allowed Tipton to pursue a career
in the male-dominated world of jazz. Not to be bound by convention, the Tiptons similarly do their
own thing. With a repertoire that ranges from New Orleans jump groove to hip hop, punk to East
European, klezmer and beyond, the Tiptons create some of the wildest sounds ever to come out of a
sax quartet. Their unforgettable, playful concerts feature high-energy interaction between members,
and a repertoire that touches on soulful music from around the world.
As BTMSQ they received grants to travel to Tallinn, Estonia, to collaborate and record with Ne Zhdali;
to compose music for sax quartet and three Metro buses; to perform and collaborate with Russian
musicians at the Goodwill Arts Festival in Seattle, and to research, arrange and perform music
by women instrumentalists in jazz. They have worked closely with the Pat Graney Dance Company,
and have shared the stage with the likes of the Indigo Girls, Wayne Horvitz, Oliver Lake, Zap Mama,
Richard Thompson and Iva Bittova. The group has toured Europe eight times, playing to sold-out houses,
including the North Sea Jazz Festival, the MIMI Festival in Arles, France, Horfest in Austria and
Klinkende Munt Music Festival in Brussels. They have also been featured at the du Maurier Jazz Festival
in Vancouver, BC, 1994 Gay Games in New York City, the Michigan Women's Music Festival, Bumbershoot Music
Festival in Seattle, and performed concerts all over North America.
| Amy Denio | Alto Sax, voice |
| Jessica Lurie | Alto & Tenor Sax, voice |
| Tina Richerson | Tenor Sax, voice |
| Tobi Stone | Baritone Sax, voice |
| Elizabeth Pupo-Walker | Percussion |
"...The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet trooped onstage lugging their arsenal of horns...
They unleashed powerhouse unisons, hammering riffs, contrapuntally controlled chaos, fierce
counterpoint and sharp solos on a program that ranged from Carla Bley to Los Lobos,
from klezmer to Sun Ra."
--Paul De Barros, Down Beat
"The Tiptons have built a solid reputation as a stellar live band, capable of alternating
ferocious with delicate, driving with subtle."
-- Martin Johnson, PULSE!
"While the band's technical facility is unimpeachable, what really soared was the spirit
of its playing . . . casting their blazing saxophone searchlights down the myriad by ways of
their own eclectic jazz map."
--Derk Richardson, East Bay Express
"Looser than the 29th Street, more in than out as ROVA, and hipper than World,
this sax quartet is a groove." Mark Corroto, SOS Jazz