The Tiptons-Drive

The Tiptons are an all-female sax quartet with percussion based in Seattle. The group features Jessica Lurie, who is a Seattle-bred composer and wood winder.  Lurie performs and records worldwide, and her projects have received numerous grants from the Seattle, King County and Washington State Arts Commissions, Arts Link Artist Trust, The Soros Foundation, Middletown Connecticut Arts Commission, Sarteano, Zagreb, and the Croatian International Film Festival, and she has led workshops internationally on improvisation and composition. Lurie is joined by Amy Denio, a Bessie Award-winning composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (alto sax, clarinet, voice, accordion, bass, guitar) and veteran home taper based in Seattle,WA.   Both Lurie and Denio are original members and the lead composers of the internationally renowned Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet (BTMSQ).  Rounding out Lurie and Denio’s ensemble of an all female sax quartet and percussion are saxophonists Tobi Stone on baritone sax, who is a native of Washington State and has performed and taught in the Seattle area for 8 years. She graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Music. Tina Richerson, on tenor sax, is native to Wenatchee, Washington and attended the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho and attained her MA in Music from the University of Washington. Percussionist Elizabeth Pupo-Walker has been performing, studying and teaching percussion for 10 years. She also performs in the internationally recognized group Tuatara (world music/jazz), which includes members of R.E.M., Los Lobos, Screaming Trees, and Luna.

With a musical resume like this and all these superior credentials (move over Queen, you are no longer the world’s most educated band!), it is no wonder that rave reviews like, “The Tiptons are amazing! Exceptional musical talent and wonderfully humorous! Extremely ‘Saxual,’ I can't wait for the next chance to see and hear them live” and “if you love jazz, this is a must . . . If not move on” allows their latest release, Drive,to hit “eleven” on the Richter scale for earth-rattling and building-shaking monstrous music.

The music is a beautiful monster for its anti-Machiavellian approach, an approach that does not allow the sum of all the parts to be greater than the whole.  The songs are unforgettable, playful, and feature high-energy interaction between all five members. This unity of various repertoires creates a worldly and soulful touch that cannot be described; it must be heard.

The magical ingredient found on Drive comes from the fact that all of the members share in composing and arranging and are focused on the fact that the end project cannot be justified by individual egotistical means.  With so much musical accreditations, one is perpetually surprised by each passing composition in that a plethora of genres intertwine perfectly with vast ranges of influences that can deviate from New Orleans jump groove to hip hop, punk to East European, klezmer and beyond. If you love a challenge, one that will leave you both experienced and exasperated, I highly recommend this latest release by the Tiptons. It is a document, or should I say a road map, to how to create some of the intriguing sounds ever to come out of a sax quartet and percussion. Oh, and did I mention that it also includes some fabulous singing.