Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums

The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums's 15th album “Live in Portland” is out now on Sowiesound Records, Austria for streaming, and on CD and LP! This high-voltage album captures this intrepid all-women sax quartet’s energy, playful interplay and exceptional musicianship experienced during their sold-out concert at Jack London Revue in Portland, Oregon in March 2025. Horn lines surge and interlock, grooves snap into focus, and their potent improvisations unfold with grace.  This ten-song album distills the band’s signature “world soul” sound, a genre-fluid blend of jazz, funk, folk traditions, Balkan and Middle Eastern influences, and rhythm-forward chamber music. Live In Portland represents the Tiptons Sax Quartet & Drums doing what they do best: transforming an empty room into a beautiful haven of community when they play.

They return to Europe in February and March, 2026 to present the CD, play concerts ~ and teach creative music workshops in Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.
Jessica Lurie – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, voice
Amy Denio – alto saxophone, clarinet, voice
Sue Orfield – tenor saxophone, voice
Tina Richerson – baritone saxophone, voice
Robert Kainar – drums

Formed in 1988 in Seattle, Washington by Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame member Amy Denio, THE TIPTONS SAXOPHONE QUARTET & DRUMS well-known for telling stories through colorful collaborations with other musicians and artists. This internationally acclaimed all-female saxophone quartet with drums has collaborated in the studio and on stage with Wayne Horvitz, Stearica, C'Mon Tigre, Estonian circus punk band Ne Zhdali and Japanese noise rock ensemble FoMoFlo among others. 

Their “Bus Horn Concerto” integrated the tones of Seattle’s metropolitan transit system into a piece for sax quartet and three articulated buses. “Shop of Wild Dreams” featured story telling augmented by cinematographer Aric Mayer's projections and live painting by Croatian artist Danijel Zezelj, “Mythunderstandings” examined the myths that humans create to survive, in collaboration with Coast Salish story teller and master musician Paul Chiyokten Wagner and film maker Adam Sekuler.
Their most recent project ¿Mujer o Bruja? was created in collaboration with renowned Latin duo Correo Aereo, and focused on the role of women in culture since Paleolithic times. The performances sold out at the Earshot Jazz Festival, and were made possible with the support of a great tech crew, Nonsequitur, Earshot Jazz Festival, On The Boards, 4Culture, and a generous grant from Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Rehearsal support: Seattle Drum School & Kenyon Hall.

HIGHLIGHTS 
Hammer Museum Jazz Series (Los Angeles); Snow Jazz Festival (Austria); Donauinsel  Festival (Austria); Carega Jazz Festival (Italy); TAKTLOS Festival (Switzerland); North Sea  Jazz Festival (Netherlands); Clifford Brown Jazz Festival (USA); du Maurier Jazz Festival  (Canada); MIMI Festival (France); Bumbershoot Music Festival (USA); Coleman Hawkins  Jazz Festival (USA); Horfest (Austria); Klinkende Munt Music Festival (Belgium); NYC Gay  Games (USA); Michigan Women's Music Festival (USA); Jazz Festival Goerlitz (Germany);  Women in Movement Festival (USA); Earshot Jazz Festival (USA); Jazzmiele Festival (Italy).  

DISCOGRAPHY:  
Saxhouse (Knitting Factory,1993) • make it funky god (1994) • Box (New World  Records,1996) • Pollo D’oro with Estonian band Ne Zhdali (No Man’s Land, 1998) •  Sunshine Bundtcake (Zipa!/Spoot Music, 2000) • Surrounded by Horns (Stockfisch, 2003) •  Tsunami (Zipa!/Spoot Music, 2004) • Drive (Zipa!/Spoot Music, 2005) • Laws of Motion  (Zipa!/Spoot Music, 2008) • Strange Flower (Zipa!/Spoot Music, 2010) • Tiny Lower Case  (Sowiesound, 2014) • We Are Happy to Meet Again with Michaelbeuern Benedictine Abbey  Stiftschor (Sowiesound, 2016) • Cookbook (Sowiesound, 2016) • Wabi Sabi (Sowiesound,  2020) • Mujer o Bruja (Sowiesound, 2023) • Live in Portland (Sowiesound, 2025)