THE TIPTONS Sax Quartet & Drums: 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, Voice with Artis The Spoonman on 'Gemini Rising'. 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 saxophonists 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! 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. 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. During their Fall, 2004 West Coast tour, they were featured at the 2004 Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle. They will tour Europe in Spring, 2005. 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. 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. The Tiptons have facilitated workshops in group composition and improvisation at the Cantiere dell'Arte Festival in Montepulciano, Italy; in Stainach, Austria; and at Alverno Presents, Milwaukee's National Performance Network site. Their long recording history as BTMSQ and Tiptons includes Saxhouse (Knitting Factory, 1993); Make It Funky, God (Horn Hut, 1994); Box (New World Records, 1996); Pollo D'oro (No Man's Land Records, 1998); Sunshine Bundtcake (Horn Hut Records, 2000); Short Cuts (Zipa/Spoot, 2002); and Surrounded By Horns (Stockfish Records, 2004). For booking information contact: Jessica Lurie email: zipa@earthlink.net Amy Denio email: mydenio@earthlink.net THE TIPTONS Sax Quartet & Drums Press Quotes "...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 TIPTONS Sax Quartet & Drums BIOGRAPHY A Seattle bred composer and woodwinder, Jessica Lurie performs and records worldwide with the bass, sax, and drums trio Living Daylights, the Tiptons, her own internationally based band The Jessica Lurie Ensemble (which perfoms in trio, quartet or quintet) and the New York based Balkan band Sheqer. She has worked with national artists such as Bill Frisell, Danijel Zezelj & Petikat, Amy Denio, Ellen Fullman, Pat Graney Dance Company, Scott Amendola, Eyvind Kang, Leo Neocentell, Booker T. Jones, Sleater Kinney, and Wayne Horvitz. Jessica has also shared the stage with The Indigo Girls, the Berkeley Symphony, Steven Berstein & Sex Mob, Charlie Hunter, Maceo Parker, Paul McCandless, Fareed Haque, and Robert Walter. Her projects have recieved grants from the Seattle, King County and Washington State Arts Commisions, 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. With visual artist Danijel Zezelj she co-created 7 multi-media performances, presented in Italy, Croatia, and the United States. She has released 16 CDs altogether to date, solo or in collaboration with others and is currently working on a new vocal CD. Bessie Award-winning Amy Denio is a composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (alto sax, clarinet, voice, accordion, bass, guitar) and veteran home taper based in Seattle, WA. She started her label Spoot Music in 1986, with the release of her first cassette release, No Bones. Since then, she's recorded & released other cassettes, LPs, and 32 CDs created solo and with an array of international musicians. She has performed her music at festivals throughout Europe and North America, as well as in South America, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bombay. She has toured solo and with various groups and musicians such as Kultur Shock, Danny Barnes, Henry Butler, Pale Nudes, Tone Dogs, Chris Cutler, Guy Klucevsek, Pauline Oliveros, Curlew, Zu, Quintetto alla Busara, Danubians, Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, and others. She has performed with Chuck D., Bill Frisell, Gianni Gebbia, London Improvisers' Orchestra, and Faust. She has been commissioned to compose for Italian National Radio, David Dorfman Dance Company, Relache Ensemble, Berkeley Symphony, The New York Festival of Song, Die Knodel, Pat Graney Dance Company, UMO Ensemble, Yoko Murao, Victoria Marks, and others. Her projects have received grants from NEA, Meet The Composer, Pew Charitable Trust, Arts Link, Artist Trust, Arts International, Seattle Arts Commission, King County Arts Commission, and the Washington State Arts Commission. Tina Richerson is native to Wenatchee Washington. Tina attended the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho and attained her Master of Music from the University of Washington. Tina made her first notable appearance in Seattle as the first female to perform and record with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra in 1999. After completing her course work for her graduate degree she began studying privately with Cynthia Mullis. Tina escaped to Alaska where she could woodshed in the Arctic, free of outside influence or distraction. After returning to Seattle, she appeared with the Jazz Police, and the jazz trio Love Must Swing. Tina has also performed with Claudio Roditti, Don Lanphere, Mark Bullis, Frank Grace, the Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, and the rock band Sons of Nothing. Tina currently studies with musician/composer Denny Goodhew. In addition to SWOJO, Tina can be heard with the Yellow Hat Band, Funktet, and the Tiptons. Tobi Stone (baritone sax) 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 Bachelors in Music. She has been a member of the Jay Thomas Big Band, Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra, The Imaginaires R&B Band, and Cambalachi Salsa Band. Tobi currently performs and composes for her jazz quartet, Reptet. The band is releasing its debut CD this spring. Tobi has appeared with such artists as Dave Brubeck, Nancy King, Don Lanphere, Mimi Fox, and Bert Wilson. Elizabeth Pupo-Walker (percussion) has been performing, studying and teaching percussion for 10 years. She is in the internationally recognized group, Tuatara (world music/jazz)which includes members of R.E.M., Los Lobos, Screaming Trees, and Luna. Having toured nationally and abroad, her strength is her versatility playing many styles of music, including latin jazz, soul, brazilian samba, flamenco, afro-cuban, groove jazz, pop/rock, and experimental. She has studied extensively in Cuba with the master drummers of Los Munequitos de Matanzas, and plans to return for further study. She has also studied with Senegalese master drummer, Mapathe Diop and Brazilian percussionist, Jorge Alebay among others. Elizabeth has been featured in Drum! magazine as well as Modern Drummer and has performed at Peter Gabriel's Womad Festival with world reknown percussionist Zakir Hussain, Joan Osbourne, and members of Spearhead. She has also performed with Ozomatli, on National Public Radio, and at various festivals around the country including Lillith Fair. Based out of Seattle Washington, Elizabeth does session work and and freelances with a variety of bands, such as Living Daylights, and the group BRAD which features members of Pearl Jam. She is currently a member of the groups Jumbalaya, Mango Son, La Movida and Origins. Elizabeth also formed the experimental/tribal jazz group MANAH, which toured extensively throughout the 90's. For booking information contact: Jessica Lurie email: zipa@earthlink.net or Amy Denio email: amy@amydenio.com