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PHOTO: TIA FULLER (b. March 27, 1976)
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tia-fuller-mn0000332860#biography
Tia Fuller
(b. March 27, 1976)
Biography by Matt Collar
Saxophonist Tia Fuller is an expressive, forward-thinking musician with a bent toward soulful, expansive jazz. She emerged in the early 2000s leading own projects, and gained wider recognition backing singer Beyoncé on tour. Adept on both alto and soprano sax, as well as flute, Fuller has released a handful of well-received albums for Mack Avenue, including 2007's Healing Space and 2012's Angelic Warrior, which showcase her harmonically nuanced compositions and vibrant take on post-bop jazz. As a touring member of Beyoncé's all-female backing band Suga Mama, she has appeared on several of the singer's live albums, including I Am...Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas. Along with her own work, she has also contributed to albums by Sean Jones, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Dianne Reeves.
Born in 1976 in Aurora, Colorado, Fuller grew up in a musical, academically minded household the daughter of two public school teachers. Her parents also loved jazz, and Fuller credits her bassist father and singer mother with imparting her, and her sister pianist Shamie Royston's early interest in the music. She started taking classical piano lessons at age three, and by middle school was playing flute and saxophone. In 1998, she graduated Magna Cum Laude with her B.A. in Music from Spelman College in Atlanta, where she studied with saxophonist Joe Jennings. Afterward, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a Master's in Music, Jazz Pedagogy, and Performance in 2000. From there, she moved to New Jersey City, and quickly established herself as a reliable sideman, working with such well-known artists as the Ellington Big Band, T.S. Monk, Don Byron, Wycliffe Gordon, Ralph Peterson, Jon Faddis, Gerald Wilson, Don Braden, and Nancy Wilson, among others.
She also began leading her own groups, and caught the ear of singer Beyoncé, whose management hired her to accompany the superstar on several U.S. and European tours, including the I AM..Sasha Fierce Tour and Beyoncé Experience World Tour. Along the way, Fuller continued to build her own career, and in 2005 released her debut solo album, Pillar of Strength. She then signed with Mack Avenue and released her sophomore album, Healing Space. She returned in 2010 with her third solo album, Decisive Steps, which featured her sister, pianist Shamie Royston, drummer Kim Thompson, bassist Miriam Sullivan, and special guests, bassist Christian McBride, trumpeter Sean Jones, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, and tap dancer Maurice Chestnut. The album landed at number 50 on the Billboard Jazz Albums Chart.
Along with performing, Fuller conducts clinics and master classes, and has led sessions at the Jazz Institute of New Jersey, the Mile High Jazz Camp, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Drexel University, Montclair State University, and New Mexico State University. Her fourth album, 2012's Angelic Warrior, once again featured her sister pianist Royston and brother-in-law bassist Rudy Royston, as well as drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, and guest vocalist Dianne Reeves. It reached number 34 on the Billboard Jazz Albums Chart. Her follow-up, 2018's Diamond Cut, fared even better, peaking at number 23. Joining Fuller on the album were bassist James Genus, drummer Jack DeJohnette, drummer Bill Stewart, guitarist Adam Rogers, and organist Sam Yahel.
Artist Biography
by Richard Skelly
October, 2015
Composer, arranger, and bandleader Tia Fuller wears a total of six hats in her career in traditional jazz, because she's also an alto saxophonist, a soprano saxophonist, and a flautist. Fuller is surely one of the hottest young lionesses to come along in traditional jazz in the last decade. Based in Jersey City, NJ, she has two albums out under her own name, both for the Mack Avenue Jazz label. Aside from being a major talent who's on the bill at prestigious jazz festivals, she's as academically gifted as she is a talented musician.
Fuller's jazz-based outlook on life is the result of her arts-filled childhood. She was raised by two teachers from the Denver public school district. She credits her parents, Fred, a bassist, and Elthopia, a singer, with giving her a thorough grounding in jazz from a young age. While growing up, she listened to music by Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane, and began her music studies by taking classical piano lessons at age three. She studied piano for ten years but began playing flute as a nine-year-old, and the saxophone shortly thereafter, while still in middle school.
By 1998, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Spelman College in Atlanta, where she studied with saxophonist Joe Jennings, earning her B.A. in Music. She later graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a Master's in Music, Jazz Pedagogy, and Performance in 2000.
Like all good jazz musicians who insist on continually challenging themselves, she moved to Jersey City, five miles from the jazz capital of the world, Manhattan. Her timing was not the most fortuitous; she arrived in Jersey City on September 9, 2001, two days before Lower Manhattan's World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists. She made the best of those bleak, depressing weeks, however, and as jazz clubs slowly began to fill up again by early November of that year, she found herself sitting in at various nightclubs around Manhattan. Fuller played and recorded with some of jazz's well-known fixtures, including the Duke Ellington Big Band, T.S. Monk, Don Byron, Wycliffe Gordon, Mickey Roker, Ralph Peterson, Jon Faddis, Rufus Reid, Jimmy Heath, Gerald Wilson, Charlie Persip, Don Braden, and Nancy Wilson.
After several years of playing clubs like Birdland in Manhattan with her own bands, in mid-June, 2006 she was hired by the singer Beyoncé to join her touring band. Since then, Fuller has accompanied Beyoncé on several U.S. and European tours. Being on the road has taught Fuller to more completely appreciate the artistry and freedom jazz musicians have. She's also learned to appreciate her audiences, whether an arena of 16,000 with Beyoncé or an intimate audience of 60 in one of northern New Jersey's smaller jazz clubs. When not on the road or leading her own group, Fuller conducts clinics and master classes at middle schools, high schools, and colleges. She's conducted these classes at the Jazz Institute of New Jersey, Aurora, Colorado Public Schools, the Mile High Jazz Camp, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Drexel University, Montclair State University, and New Mexico State University.
Pillar of Strength
In 2005, Fuller released her first album ever with Pillar of Strength. Her indie release caught the attention of executives at Mack Avenue Records, who then signed her. Her debut for Mack Avenue Records, Healing Space, was released in 2007. Decisive Steps, released in the spring of 2010, is Fuller's sophomore release for Mack Avenue Records. She's accompanied by drummer Kim Thompson, bassist Miriam Sullivan, her sister, Shamie Royston on piano and keyboards, and special guests, bassist Christian McBride, trumpeter Sean Jones, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, and tap dancer Maurice Chestnut. She celebrated with a series of record release parties in West Orange, Newark, and Trenton, NJ, as well as back home in Denver and at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center.
On Decisive Steps, Fuller and company breathe new life into two standards, "I Can't Get Started," and "My Shining Hour," and bassist Christian McBride adds a new dimension to "I Can't Get Started."
Tia Fuller’s most recent album is Diamond Cut (Mack Avenue). (Photo: Jimmy & Dena Katz)
Tia Fuller knows about being a road warrior. As featured saxophone soloist in Beyoncé’s all-woman band between 2006 and 2010, she traveled from one mega-venue to another in high style, not infrequently in the leader’s private jet.
Between 2012 and 2015, she experienced the grind to which jazz musicians are more accustomed, traversing the European circuit by air, train and van with bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music Society, and Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic and Money Jungle projects, while also continuing to lead her own groups on periodic sojourns in support of her Mack Avenue leader albums. In 2013, when Berklee College of Music hired Fuller as an ensemble professor, a weekly commute to Boston from New Jersey entered her quotidian routine.
In late June—a day after she’d concluded a month of shows across the United States with a new quartet performing repertoire from her fourth Mack Avenue album, Diamond Cut—Fuller made the Amtrak trip from Boston (now her home) to New York to talk with DownBeat about the Carrington-produced date.
If the day-trip was well within Fuller’s comfort zone, the music contained therein is not: She eschews using a pianist, as she’d done on prior albums, instead framing her piquant, full-bodied alto saxophone sound with two all-star bass-drum tandems—Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette; James Genus and Bill Stewart—and guitarist Adam Rogers.
Fuller started the writing process in 2015 while traveling with the Mack Avenue Super Band, focusing on the spacious environment that John Patitucci’s six-string electric and piccolo basses imparted to portions of Angelic Warrior, her 2012 release. “It’s a sonic shift, which also expresses my feeling that I’ve evolved as a woman and as a musician,” Fuller said. “Terri and I had an extensive conversation about it. She said, ‘Tia, I’d like to see you align yourself with some of the masters in the community, so you’ll play up to that level and be pushed.’”
How successfully Fuller fulfilled Carrington’s mandate denotes her steadily ascending stature and maturity as a performer and implies her ability to convey within the educational arena the particulars of functioning at the highest levels of the music industry. Her students at Berklee benefit not only from Fuller’s myriad tours and albums, but also her background in academia and the practical wisdom she’s gained from conducting countless master classes. (Fuller, along with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, will serve in September as artists-in-residence at the 2018 Monterey Jazz Festival—a role involving performances, as well as clinics.)
Fuller’s commitment to her educational mission was palpable as she described processing an offer for a full-time position at Berklee. “I had taken a very long break at the tail end of Beyoncé’s tour,” she said. “Then, within 24 hours of my receiving the call from Berklee, they called us all to come back out. Early on, I didn’t want to teach. My parents were educators; I didn’t want to do what they did. But I remember giving a saxophone lesson while I was serving in my TA position in graduate school, and the light bulb went off. Right then, I realized that to provide light and direction is a beautiful thing. When I’d rehearse with Beyoncé, I’d think, ‘I’m not maximizing my potential—it’s a great opportunity, but I want to teach.’ I didn’t want to do it in a public-school setting, though, because I wanted to be able to perform and to travel.
“It was almost a no-brainer. I’d done everything I needed to do. My only struggle was to let go of the ego of, ‘Oh, you’re playing with Beyoncé.’ Then it was like: OK, it’s time for me to move fervently into this next direction, so I can step into my purpose—to bring to the next generation the experiences I’ve learned from Beyoncé, from being a bandleader and everything else, and be a light for others, whether on stage or in the classroom.”
The decision to make the offer also seemed like a no-brainer to Ron Savage, a drummer who then was chair of Berklee’s ensemble department and is now dean of the performance division. “I was always looking for excellent musicians who have a certain spirit in the way they relate to people and share with people, and who are interested in teaching,” Savage said. He first heard Fuller play in 2011 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, where Berklee conducts summer clinics. “As soon as Tia came to the mic to introduce her band and began to play, she set a strong tone of collaboration, collegiality and respect. In that moment, it hit me that she’s a role model our students need to see, musically and otherwise.”
During several Berklee workshops the following year, Savage observed how strongly the students responded to Fuller’s teaching. “It’s not typical for any musician to go from playing hardcore, straightahead jazz to playing with one of the world’s biggest pop stars, and also have a master’s degree,” he said, mentioning Fuller’s advanced degree in jazz pedagogy and performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. “She’s a complete package. I knew she’d have other offers, but I had no doubt we’d work it out.”
Berklee’s ensemble department comprises 450 bands playing 60 styles of music. Fuller was assigned the half-century-old Rainbow All-Star Ensemble and the Rainbow Big Band Ensemble legacy bands from Phil Wilson, and was asked if she had any new ensembles in mind. She suggested the Esperanza Spalding Radio Music Society, Christian McBride and Beyoncé.
“I wanted to bring something reflecting the A-list production skills I’d experienced and observed while touring and rehearsing with Beyoncé,” Fuller said. “The rehearsals were 12 hours. We might play for three or four. The rest of the time, I’d watch and learn the choreography, see how many lights were on Beyoncé, how things were set up. We have all the tools here, all the departments.”
In 2017, Fuller supervised a student-run production in which nine of the 10 original members of Beyoncé’s all-female band merged with the ensemble. It included five dancers, five vocalists, two guitarists, three keyboardists, two bass players, two drummers, six horn players, strings, LED lighting and a smoke machine. “It was a full-on production from head to toe,” Fuller said. On a student’s suggestion, she upped the ante in 2017–’18 with a student-organized Bruno Mars tribute show that included 60 dancers and a drum line.
“The Beyoncé show was the groundbreaker, but Bruno Mars taught us where we can actually go once we start doing it,” Savage said. “I thought they could do the show in Las Vegas the next day. There’s the inclusiveness of the band, of the singers and the dancers, drawn from the different demographics and communities on our campus. You also saw young women being featured and put in leadership roles—and Tia herself setting the standard.”
“On the first day of school, they’d learned almost all the music, with some choreography,” Fuller said. “The band is all men, so I interwove the #MeToo movement in certain sections. We talked about equality in the classroom, equality in the performing arts for women, that young men should hold their brothers accountable for injustice or unrighteousness to women. I wanted the show to be not only an A-list production, but a platform to educate the students and the audience.”
Savage said that Fuller has established a new cultural stream at Berklee, both musically and institutionally. “She’s done some things no one has done before,” he said. “To me, what’s unique is that innovations at Berklee usually have come from former students or longtime faculty—established community members. Tia came with a vision and a strategy, a work ethic, and the patience to work through the institutional issues to become one of Berklee’s shining lights in a relatively short period of time.”
Fuller applied the same qualities Savage described to establishing herself on the New York scene after earning her master’s degree. “At jam sessions, I’d be waiting my turn, and someone would walk in front of me and start playing,” she recalled. “That happened a couple of times before I was like, ‘OK, I see what this is.’ When I started talking to club owners about booking gigs, often they wouldn’t take me seriously—or they would hit on me. Things like that helped mold me into maintaining my personality, while also being direct in how I exude my energy, setting up barriers of business versus pleasure.
“I don’t experience sexism in an environment where people know who I am or what I do. But I still have to ward off sexist comments. Every day I’m traveling, if I’m carrying my horn, someone says, ‘Oh, what’s that?’ ‘It’s a saxophone.’ ‘Do you actually play it?’ Whereas maybe I’d laugh it off 10 years ago, now I address it and call them out. I take it as an opportunity to educate.”
In this regard, she mentioned her father, Fred Fuller, who played bass in a family combo called Fuller Sound with her mother, Elthopia, a singer. They remained in the Denver area after having their children, and pursued careers as educators.
As a youngster, Fuller was a classical piano and flute student before becoming “infatuated” with the saxophone. She wore saxophone earrings and a saxophone necklace, and finally switched instruments at age 11. After high school, when Fuller was gigging with her parents, her father trained her in the mindset of “go in and be fearless, even when you are afraid,” Fuller said. “He would yell at me on the bandstand, ‘Play! Don’t be scared.’ Recently he told me, ‘I didn’t want you to grow up being afraid to play, so I pushed you, because I knew what you’d have to endure as a woman.’”
Fuller drew on those lessons after matriculating to Spelman College—a historically black women’s college in Atlanta—for undergraduate work on inspiration taken from the TV sitcom A Different World, whose plot revolved around a stand-in institution called Hillman. “I’d see the camaraderie and sisterhood of all these African-American women,” Fuller said. “I felt exploring the liberal arts college experience in that environment was more important than attending a conservatory.”
At Spelman, Fuller encountered alto saxophonist Joe Jennings, the founder of Spelman’s jazz studies program and director of the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble. “I walked into Mr. Jennings’ office on my first visit, and he had on his John Coltrane hat, which I took as an omen,” Fuller said. “I played Charlie Parker’s ‘Donna Lee,’ just the melody—I pretty much only knew my major scales. All he said was, ‘OK, you have potential.’ After talking to him, I knew he’d take me under his wing. Because of him, I started practicing six to eight hours a day. He would never say, ‘Tia, you sound good,’ but always, ‘You’re coming along’—even up to this day. He kept me grounded, and he wanted me to keep working.”
Jennings is one of the “Joes” who Fuller references on Diamond Cut’s “Joe’N Around.” The open-ended piece begins with the leader in a duo with DeJohnette. She postulates variations across the alto’s range on an abstract line transcribed from a Joe Lovano solo, before bringing on Holland for a transition to a “more sassy” section that refracts Joe Henderson’s phrasing and intervallic sensibility. She concludes with a pattern learned from Jennings.
Fuller credited the involvement of Carrington—a two-time Grammy winner whose work as a producer includes acclaimed recordings by Spalding, Dianne Reeves, Nona Hendryx and Teena Marie—as crucial to her propensity to stretch and explore throughout the recording sessions. “To me, this album is the first time I had a producer I could trust, where I just had to show up,” she said. “When we were in the studio—or talking about who was going to be on what—I leaned on Terri’s perspective.”
Fuller might be understating how proactive she was in guiding the flow. Guitarist Rogers recalled the leader mentioning that a “slightly distorted, bluesy sound” she’d heard him deploy on an earlier album might work on one tune. “It was a good idea,” he said. Still, Rogers added, Fuller comported herself “in the great tradition of calling musicians whose playing she loves to bring their personalities to bear, and gave them music that made sense—so things didn’t need to be dissected and explained.”
“I wrote out the bass lines, heads and melodies,” Fuller said, adding that she knew her all-star collaborators “would fill in the gaps once they learned the germ of the structure.”
Carrington’s painstaking preparations established an immaculate playing field on which to operate. “Before you get to the studio, you make sure there aren’t surprises or problems,” she said. “Then, when you’re there, you’re the ears. After a take, you tell them to try it once more, or step away from the microphone, or play a little softer or stronger—they don’t have to go into the control room to hear it, which stops the momentum.
“Tia is steeped in the blues tradition,” Carrington continued. “She has a great understanding of jazz and her instrument’s lineage. She didn’t skip anything—she took the Point A to Point B approach, as opposed to Point A to Point F. Her technique is strong. Her energy is strong. Her material sounds familiar, but feels like her own thing. She has all the qualities of someone who is the truth in the music—the real deal.”
Throughout the program, Fuller responds in kind, presenting a master class in alto saxophone expression. She projects an array of attacks—husky and muscular, legato and sprightly, soaring, keening, songlike—that proceed over percolating rhythms drawn from the canons of West Africa and New Orleans, from swing and rock. M-Base-esque odd meters underpin and propel both “Fury Of Da’Mond” and the opening track, “In The Trenches,” on which she articulates her float-like-a-butterfly-sting-like-a-bee variations with crystalline brilliance atop Genus’ kinetic B-flat-minor bass vamp.
“I was literally in the basement of my house, trying to write, and it wasn’t coming,” Fuller said of “In The Trenches.” “Personal things were interfering with trying to clear my mind and sink into it, as I did on my other albums. I felt spiritually in the trenches, trying to dig myself out, to create something and rise through the pressure to the top—which is how a diamond surfaces. That’s what the vamp represents, and it’s one meaning of the title. The other was to celebrate diamonds in the jazz community: legends like Jack and Dave and Terri.
“Now, once the diamond gets to the surface, the cut doesn’t relate to size or shape, but to the balance and proportion of light that it reflects. That’s the brilliance of the diamond. All the people who have poured into me—my mentors, my peers, all my experiences—serve as the light, and now I’m able to reflect that light back out onto students.”
On the anthemic Buddy Johnson ballad “Save Your Love For Me,” Fuller sings through the horn with a pearl-like tone that Carrington described as “like a bird or a butterfly, soulful, sweet-sounding, but not necessarily like r&b.”
“Terri helped me with this,” Fuller said. “When we were on the road, she’d tell me, ‘Tia, you don’t have to bear down all the time—find the sweet spot.’ I had the lyrics on the music stand, so I could embrace them and take ownership. I’d been reluctant to tap into some sweeter parts of my sound. That’s from the sitting-in I did earlier on in New York—the psychological dimension of being a woman in those situations, and wanting to play all your stuff, thinking, ‘You’ve got to dig in.’”
Another psychological aspect of womanhood informs “Queen’s Intuition,” a flowing waltz textured by DeJohnette’s painterly brushes. “I wanted to celebrate the process of listening to the inner voice, that ‘Aha!’ moment my mother described as ‘I can always feel something,’” Fuller said. “That happened to her during her forties, where I am now. I’m learning to trust that sense.”
“Crowns Of Gray,” a clarion ballad, celebrates “the royalty my parents have been in my life.” It begins, Fuller said, with the exact same interval as Cannonball Adderley’s famous version of “Stars Fell On Alabama.” “That’s the first song I transcribed when I got to Spelman,” she continued. “We toured for a week, and I played that exact solo every day. Here, I combined it with ‘Nancy With The Laughing Face,’ which I played duo with my dad.”
That she’s paid close attention to bassist and collaborator Holland’s music is evident on “The Coming”—a programmatic depiction of the African-American diasporic experience, which opens with a section inspired by a bass line he played underneath a Chris Potter saxophone solo on one of his quintet albums—and on the gorgeous “Tears Of Santa Barbara,” a soprano saxophone-bass duo introduced by Holland’s arco solo. “I wrote that specifically to feature Dave to play his melodies along with my melody,” Fuller said. “I was in Santa Barbara, behind the stage, right after sound check. I was crying about something. My way of working through it was to play that melody over and over again.”
In a conversation several years ago, Fuller spoke of transitional events in her life occurring at three-year intervals. Asked now what she sees as her next step, she mentioned a nascent project with drummer Nikki Glaspie, a Beyoncé bandmate who also plays with saxophonist Maceo Parker. “We’re brainstorming for possibilities, trying to get music together,” Fuller said.
More broadly, Fuller intends to coalesce her interests in hardcore jazz and social music. “I again want to reach beyond what I’ve already done,” she said. “What’s ironic is that I wanted to put my stamp on the jazz world, because I knew playing with Beyoncé could turn into, ‘OK, now she’s a pop saxophonist.’ But I’ve always loved both areas. My writing always contained elements of r&b and Latin and even classical. So, moving into this next realm and making a seamless transition to another genre, for lack of a better term, reflects my evolution as a complete human being and a musician.” DB
Tia Fuller (born March 27, 1976) is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator, and a member of the all-female band touring with Beyoncé. Fuller is currently a faculty member in the ensembles department at Berklee College of Music.[1] Fuller was a Featured Jazz Musician in Pixar's full length computer-animated feature Soul. For the film Fuller plays an alto saxophone with a Vandoren mouthpiece for the character Dorothea Williams. The appearance of Dorothea Williams is influenced by Fuller, and the character's speaking lines are voiced by Angela Bassett.[2]
Background
Fuller was born in Aurora, Colorado to jazz musicians Fred and Elthopia Fuller. [3] Her father, Fred, plays bass and her mother, Ethiopia, sings. She grew up playing classical piano at the age of three and listening to her parents rehearse in the basement of their home, as well as to the music of John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan and Charlie Parker. She studied classical piano for 10 years, started playing the flute at the age of nine, and took up the saxophone and became interested in jazz in high school. [4] Her sister, Shamie Royston, is a jazz pianist and a regular member of Fuller's ensemble. [5]
Fuller began playing saxophone at Gateway High School, after which she continued her musical education at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, under the tutelage of Joseph Jennings. [6] While at Spelman, she performed with Ray Charles. [7] In 1998, she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music, and later went on to complete a Master's in Music, Jazz Pedagogy, and Performance in 2000 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. [8]
Career
Fuller has regularly performed with a number of jazz artists, including Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ralph Peterson Septet, the T.S. Monk Septet, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, the Rufus Reid Septet, the Sean Jones Quintet and the Nancy Wilson Jazz Orchestra.
Fuller has led a quartet which includes Shamie Royston on piano, Kim Thompson on drums, and Miriam Sullivan on bass, and with whom she has recorded the albums Pillar of Strength (2005, Wambui), Healing Space (2007, Mack Avenue), and Decisive Steps (2010, Mack Avenue).
In 2006, she was a member of the all-female band touring with Beyoncé.[9][10]
In 2012, she toured with Esperanza Spalding as leader of the Radio Music Society horn section, in which she played saxophone in dialogue with Spalding's scat singing.
In 2019, she recorded with Roy Haynes, Jon Batiste, Linda May Han Oh and Marcus Gilmore for The Walt Disney Company's movie Soul.[2]
Fuller was nominated for a Grammy Award for her 2019 album Diamond Cut[11]
She was artist in residence at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival.[12][13]
She teaches at Berklee College of Music.[14]
Discography
As leader
- Pillar of Strength (Wambui, 2005)
- Healing Space (Mack Avenue, 2007)
- Decisive Steps (Mack Avenue, 2010)
- Angelic Warrior (Mack Avenue, 2012)
- Diamond Cut (Mack Avenue, 2018)
Compilations
- It's Christmas on Mack Avenue (Mack Avenue, 2014)
As sideman
- with Joe Budden
- Joe Budden (Def Jam, 2003)
- with Miki Hayama
- Vibrant (Art Union @ Jazz, 2004)
- with Sean Jones
- Eternal Journey (Mack Avenue, 2004)
- Gemini (Mack Avenue, 2005)
- Roots (Mack Avenue, 2006)
- Kaleidoscope (Mack Avenue, 2007)
- with Brad Leali
- Maria Juanez (TCB Music, 2007)
- with Nancy Wilson
- Turned to Blue (MCG Jazz, 2006)
External links
by Pete Dulin | April 13, 2008
Tia Fuller, who also toured with Beyoncé as a member of the R&B superstar’s backing band, offered insight into her career as a female working in the music industry at an artist talk in KC in March 2008. While in town, Fuller and her all-female touring band––pianist Shamie Royston, bassist Miriam Sullivan and drummer Kim Thompson––performed at the Blue Room.
Raised in a musical household, Fuller began learning classical piano and flute from the age of three through age 13. Her father played bass and her mother sang. “From my earliest age, I remember hearing them rehearse in the basement of our house. I grew up hearing John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, and Charlie Parker. I didn’t understand it and didn’t really like it until I started playing saxophone and experiencing the music for myself,” she says.
She continued her jazz studies in high school, where she switched to saxophone, and into college, where Fuller earned a Masters Degree (M.M.) in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Fuller moved to Jersey City, incidentally just two days before the September 11 terrorists’ attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. “I thought it was an omen that I shouldn’t move out here,” she recalls. “Actually, the event forced me to hustle, because the word on the streets, in the jazz community, was that there was very little work. My first gig was playing in a big band at a fish fry in South Jersey.”
Fuller did hustle and began to rise in the New York jazz community. She met musicians such as saxophonist Brad Leali, who at that time played in the Count Basie Orchestra. He circulated Fuller’s name as a skillful saxophonist capable of doubling on the flute in the jazz community, Since then, Fuller has progressed as a musician and released two albums, the impressive debut Pillar of Strength (listen to a sample) and her sophomore release Healing Space.
As a composer, Fuller is well-versed in bop, R&B, hip-hop, gospel, and Latin influences. She is also a dedicated educator. Fuller continues to be involved with music education by currently serving as the director of the Jazz Museum in Harlem’s “Harmony Ensemble.” She also conducts clinics, residencies, lectures and master classes.
In this PresentMagazine.com interview, Fuller shares advice about developing as a musician.
Present: Kansas City is blessed with a rich legacy and active community of jazz musicians including talented jazz vocalists, but there are few women jazz artists. What advice would you give to young women studying music in school or considering music education?
Tia Fuller: The advice I would give to women is to focus on being a great musician. Don’t allow negative experiences and the outside world dictate your purpose. Utilize all opportunities and experiences as stepping stones, toward your musicianship and character.
Present: You grew up in a musical family, studied jazz in high school and college, and learned from performing gigs in the New York scene. How did these various experiences reinforce your interest and improve your skill level as a maturing artist?
Fuller: These experiences have reinforced my interest and improved my skill level by constantly being in an environment of inspiration. In order to inspire you have to be inspired. My experiences have also taught me that music…life is full of infinite possibilities. You just have to have to move forward in faith and not fear.
Present: What are some common challenges for young jazz students in terms of technique, knowledge, or other areas?
Fuller: The most common challenge that I see in younger musicians is not having a clear concept of “sound,” and the “language” of the instrument. Listen to the greats and immerse yourself in the music, to the point that you can hear the sound you are trying to create in your head…before producing it through your instrument.
Present: Outside of learning how to play an instrument well, what other skills does a working musician need to learn and achieve in the music business?
Fuller: Other skills that students must achieve as a working musician is being a businessman or woman. Sending press kits, CDs, follow through with calls, networking and building healthy working relationships that create a win-win situation. Also, being a band leader, you have to communicate effectively and facilitate the things that you want done or put people in place to do those things. Ultimately, have a clear vision of where you want to go and aggressively pursue how you are going to get there, while maintaining a pleasant, yet business savvy attitude.
Present: Who were/are your role models in music or other fields? Why?
Fuller: Maya Angelou, Denzel Washington, Branford Marsalis, Serena Williams. All of these individuals push the envelope and walk in a clear and decisive vision path in their life. They are constantly in a state of evolution…no matter how old, no matter how hard, they turn their trials and visions into a tangible reality.
Present: Why is your latest album called “Healing Space?”
Fuller: In the midst of of brokenness and life’s challenges, “Healing Space” is a place that is created within oneself…a place that is your ultimate peace, restoration, enlightenment, and renewal.
Present: You began learning to play the piano at the age of three, and have studied and performed throughout your life. What excites you about music today? What experiences in life inspire you to create music?
Fuller: The ability to give back positive and uplifting energy and the ability to seek and discover through your instrument daily! The infinite possibilities that life brings continue to inspire me.
Originally published in Present Magazine, April 2008.
https://www.inthetrove.com/tia-fuller-interview
Tia Fuller photographed by Jerris Madison.
Music is in her marrow. Her parents and siblings all perform it, and her paternal grandfather played with the legendary vocal group, The Ink Spots. She’s been conscious of it as long as she’s had a conscience. It is the conduit through which she lives her life’s purpose - “to be a light for others.”
Encountering GRAMMY-nominated composer and saxophonist Tia Fuller as she rehearses her band for a Carnegie Hall City Wide concert offers a glimpse of her many selves. She's a beast on her horn, a confident and competent leader, an encouraging educator and a self-professed girly-girl who loves a fly 'do, a press-on nail and a calf-poppin' stiletto. Her beautiful tone on the alto, a pied piper's call, directs me to the small rehearsal space where Mark Whitfield, Jr. scorches on the drums and bassist Endea Owens, new to the group, holds her own. There's an easy, familial rapport between Tia and Mark and a welcoming vibe toward both Endea and me. As Tia switches to the soprano saxophone, they launch into "Delight," an original composition – inspired by a scripture from the Book of Psalms – that is featured on Diamond Cut, the album that earned her the GRAMMY nod. It's a lovely, melodic tune grounded by a funky bassline and riveting solo by Dave Holland on the recording. In rehearsal, Tia gives Endea latitude: "You don't have to play as rhythmically with us; you can fingerpaint around – add color." And with that, they find their groove.
Although she recorded Diamond Cut with just bass, drums, and guitar – barring Sam Yahel's soulful turn on the Hammond organ for a couple of tunes – this iteration of her quartet, sans guitar, features her gifted pianist sister, Shamie Fuller-Royston. Arriving at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse for soundcheck later than the others, Shamie sits at the piano and nimbly plays "Crowns of Grey," another original tune from the album. It is Tia's mellifluous alto ode to their musician parents Fred and Elthopia Fuller, and Shamie plays it for the first time as if she's known it all her life. Her rendering all but erases thoughts of Adam Rogers' Jim Hall-inflected guitar on the recording – no easy feat as his was an exquisite contribution. Despite Tia's nomination in a category of jazz greats, she humbly says of her sister, "There's never been any competition. She's always been better. I always looked up to her.” Their bond is palpable. “We had a staircase that looked into the living room, where the piano sat. And in high school and college, she would be rehearsing with her group. I remember sitting there thinking, I wanna do that. I was always just so inspired."
And now, she seeks to inspire through her music, her teaching, the loving way she moves through the world being “a light for others.” During a few densely packed days in New York City, the Boston resident shares her story with THE TROVE.
After the rehearsal, she bids the band farewell, and warm hugs abound, "I'm a hugger, I touch," she declares. We head out into the bustle of Times Square. With no time for a meal before Ubering uptown to her guest DJ spot at Columbia University's WKCR radio, she stops at a vending truck for a favorite: soft-serve ice cream. After genially expressing sticker shock, she enjoys the frozen treat en route. Hers is a generous spirit, expansive, something she attributes to having grown up in "abundance," she says, in Aurora, Colorado, a Denver suburb. "The mountains and the openness and the weather, every season is beautiful. Even the winters aren't as brutal as they are here because it's so dry." And she believes the high altitude strengthened her lungs for vigorous play. Although she appreciates the dynamic, creative energy of New York, she is grateful for her laid-back upbringing, in tune with the natural environment. "My dad was an outdoorsy person. We'd ride bikes, play tennis, go skiing;” enjoying an active lifestyle out in nature. “That laid a solid groundwork for me as far as a broadened perspective," she says. Raised by artist/educator parents in the "arts-oriented" state provided the incubator for Tia, her elder sister Shamie and younger brother Ashton's creativity to flourish. The family even performed together in various combinations as Fuller Sound.
Iterations of Fuller Sound: Fred and Elthopia Fuller; Fred Fuller, Shamie Fuller-Royston, Ashton Fuller, Tia Fuller, Elthopia Fuller, and Rudy Royston.
"Not only is my mom, a vocalist, but she was an English and drama teacher. She would bring my sister and me with her students to the Denver Center of Performing Arts to see plays, or we would go to the museum. She was adamant about exposing us to different opportunities so we could choose our path. We weren't forced to do anything, but we were exposed to music, dance, and art. She was also the one who initiated the recording for ‘Fuller Sound.’ My mom has always inspired us to reach for academic excellence and maintain a spiritual basis in all that we do.” My dad was a little more myopic – music, of course, and P.E." [physical education] Her father was a craftsman, she says: "He built a lot of the stuff in our house – our swing set, the bar in our basement and the wood paneling around our hot tub. I would always be like his sous-chef, his assistant."
We arrive on the Columbia campus and gain entree to the station's vast holdings of jazz recordings on vinyl. Tia oohs and ahhs over the analog delights, but ultimately, she came prepared with her digital playlist, twenty-plus songs that speak to the arc of her life in music. She'd planned to start with jazz and blues vocalist, Ernestine Anderson, an influence, but decides to "warm up the airwaves with this melody and Sarah's voice," she says of the divine Ms. Vaughn's "Misty." “My mother loved her.” She follows up with her bassist father's favorite, "Someday My Prince Will Come," by Ron Carter. "Hear him glide in on those notes?" she asks, smiling. Next up, "Black Codes" from Wynton Marsalis. "Tain set it up!" she exclaims, on Jeff “Tain” Watts’ drumming. "Ron Carter is on bass here as well," she says of the 1985 recording, feeling "quite nostalgic" as "Shamie played this over and over."
Tia pulls up her playlist for her guest DJ set on Columbia University radio station, WKCR. Photo, The TROVE.
She'd go on to play an eclectic mix of tunes from musicians who've inspired her from "Circulo Vicioso," a showcase of Shamie Royston's piano virtuosity to Sonny Rollins' swinging solo on 1957's "Blues for Philly Joe." She enjoys the "cross-pollination of jazz and hip-hop" on Q-Tip's "Do U DIg You?" with Gary Thomas and Kurt Rosenwinkel. And there’s one of the first recordings of her "big sister/mentor" Geri Allen's "Unconditional Love," and her friend and producer Terri Lyne Carrington's reworking of the Ellington composition, "A Little Max." She "absolutely adores" gospel artist Doobie Powell's "Rain," and of course, pays homage to inspiration Cannonball Adderley with the first of his tunes she learned: "Stars Fell on Alabama" and "Autumn Leaves." A predominant theme suffuses her thinking: expansiveness and possibility. She intones lyrics from Robert Glasper's supergroup, August Greene, "Driving through the city with the top down. We ain't got no ceiling to our thoughts now …it's a beautiful ride." The WKCR DJ thanks her enthusiastically for her time, and she is genuinely grateful for the opportunity to share her musical thoughts before finally grabbing dinner and a cocktail at Havana Central.
At the next day's soundcheck, Tia detects her microphone is "sounding a little wet," and moves to the center of the house to listen. Having graciously communicated her needs, including moving the piano inward, the team at Harlem Stage quickly accommodates her requests. That night, amid the masonry interior of the historic 1890's gatehouse with its warm acoustics, Tia & Co. turn up and turn in a fiery, yet intimate set, everyone’s chops on full display.
With a narrow window of uninterrupted time to speak the following day, we sit down in her hotel suite. Her thoughtful conversation punctuated by the occasional trill of her flute as she readies herself for a studio session. A friend had called and asked her to play on a recording, She says, "Usually, I can pick up my flute, and everything's there embouchure-wise, but I went to my high C, and it was like breaking." So she plays. "Lemme warm this puppy up, my baby; well, my stepchild," she laughs.
Tia was tapped for the Inspired Women video series from womenswear retailer, J. Jill. The “Rhythm in Blues” campaign featured notable women in music who embody the brand’s easy, relaxed, style. Tia’s image, rocking their Authentic Fit slim-leg jeans appeared on billboards, ads, across online platforms and in-store at more than 270 retail locations.
As an endorsing artist for Yanagisawa saxophones and Vandoren reeds, and a former saxophonist in Beyoncé's all-female band, she is best known for the instrument. But the reality is she's played several since she was a toddler. She studied classical piano from age three to thirteen and is thankful to have had piano as her foundational instrument. "Though it has always been a belaboring one for me, it's helpful, I write on it," but she adds laughing, "I flunked the introductory book about four times from [ages] three to seven. Bless Miss Purse's heart. She was so patient. Now, Tia, you have to practice." By fourth grade, she'd also learned recorder, and then flute, but at age nine, she had a prescient moment recorded for posterity on videotape by her dad. As she twirled around in her chair at the kitchen counter, he asked her, "What do you want to do?" She looked directly into the camera and answered with great clarity, not what she wanted to do but what she would do, a declarative statement. "I'm going to play the saxophone," she said sassily. "I don't know what that was, but I think somewhere inside it was resonating saxophone, saxophone, saxophone." It would be a couple of years before she played it. She'd taken well to the fingering of the flute, and when her grandfather handed her another woodwind instrument, one that could be "loud," she became "obsessed," she recalls. "It allowed me to express my voice," perfect for the young girl whose father encouraged her to "never shrink." So enamored was she that she wore saxophone jewelry nearly exclusively.
Newborn Tia; the six-year-old; the teen; the sax-playing high school senior; the young musician trying to blend in a male-dominated industry in a sportcoat, vest and trousers; a Beyoncé-encouraged short haircut; a glam flip; riding the waves. Photos courtesy of Tia Fuller.
She played in the band at Aurora Hills Middle School along with her lifelong friend Carissa Freeman. At Gateway High School they shared the same schedule: honors English, marching band, concert band, and jazz band. "I was playing quads in the drumline; she was playing snare. We both played flute in symphonic band." And both played saxophone in the jazz band; Carissa, tenor and Tia, alto. "So for me," she remembers, "that was the introduction to sisterhood outside of family and the importance of it. We would challenge each other for chairs. Sometimes I would be first chair and she second and vice versa." It made her realize the importance of having a peer "who is moving at your rate, and how you can help to sharpen each other."
At home, she had firsthand access to grown folks jamming when musicians came over to rehearse with her parents in the basement. "I passively listened to jazz as I was growing up because it was always pumping through the house. Any time I got in the car with my dad, it was jazz – all the time." She liked Guy, Jodeci, and Bell, Biv, Devoe. "When I tried to change it to the R&B station, my dad was like 'Get your hand off that dial!'" she laughs. "I took jazz for granted because it was around me all the time. I remember hearing 'Giant Steps' on the radio, Shamie and I would walk around the house talking 'bout, (she sing-speaks) ‘Life when we were kids was like play-ing gi-ant steps.’ I didn't start enjoying jazz until late in high school." Although a couple of albums from her middle school days do stand out: the Marsalis's Black Codes from the Underground (Wynton) and The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (Branford). "And of course," she says, "Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil was a little later."
She participated in jazz camps throughout her childhood and recalls that initially, she "didn't get Bird." She first attended Mile High Jazz Camp when she was "eleven and still trying to play piano, still trying to learn chords." Presented with Charlie Parker's bebop classic, "Scrapple from the Apple," she became discouraged. "I was like what is this? I felt like I couldn't keep up."
There was a general resurgence of interest in Charlie Parker during her high school years when she switched to saxophone. "The students at the jazz camp would practice the Omnibook. 'My Little Suede Shoes,' I love that tune, it's one of the first I learned; then 'Now's the Time.' It wasn't until about a decade later when I moved to Jersey City and alto player Jesse Davis moved right below me and gave me lessons that I got it. He broke it down (drops her voice into its lowest register) 'Listen to this Tia; listen to his phrasing, how it's holding onto the note; and the vibrato.' It was at that point that I fell in love with Bird."
She plays a flute run before continuing; it sparkles like her blingy Adidas slides. "I became consciously aware of Cannonball Adderley in high school; checked out his Something Else album. I took to him because there was a soul element in his playing that I didn't hear in Bird's." She reminisces about performing in a high school pageant and her influences. "In retrospect, I think back on some of the albums I had, some smooth jazz. I remember listening to Grover Washington Jr. and Eric Marienthal and Dave Sanborn. I checked out a little bit of Candy Dulfer, and it's just interesting that I started from there. Probably because I heard all the straight-ahead stuff in my house. I'm just now realizing that actually, so thank you."
As a performer and professor of jazz, Tia was named the Best Alto Saxophonist of 2018 by JazzTimes and graced the magazine’s June 2010 cover. She garnered DownBeat Magazine’s International Critics Poll “Rising Star” nod two years in a row – 2013 and 2014 and made the cover this year. She was also the cover story or JazzEd magazine’s March 2019 issue.
College was a given, but where? "Once again, all of the epiphanies came in the kitchen chair," she says. "My dad put up a TV in the kitchen, and we'd watch A Different World. I'm swiveling around in that chair, and I'm looking up, and I thought I want to go to a school like that." Watching the campus life of the students of fictional "Hillman" on the show exposed her to the idea of attending a school where people who looked like her were in the majority. It made her want the HBCU experience.
Like her sister before her, Tia had a laudable academic record and knew the odds were in her favor to get a full-ride scholarship as an in-state student at the University of Denver. With her sights set elsewhere, she didn't apply. She pinned her hopes on the historically Black women's college, Spelman in Atlanta to have the embrace of Black sisterhood in a school that offered a jazz program. "When I got into Spelman, that was the next phase of awareness for me of the importance and the power of being a black woman. And when I got there, everybody there was the valedictorian and the fly girl in her school. Everybody's smart; everybody's beautiful; everybody's talented. Oh, you bringing it like that? Again it's that idea that iron sharpens iron. And it's wonderful, some of my best friends are people I met at Spelman."
Among her many accolades, Tia has been honored with the Distinguished Alumnae Award as the commencement speaker at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Benny Golson Award from Howard University in 2018. In 2019, she received the Juneteenth Music Festival #DreamBig Award.
Her time at Spelman was invaluable for the experience of sisterhood, she says, but also for the uplift from "strong Black men who were honoring Black women." Scholar and author Dr. Daniel Black was a mentor and remains her spiritual advisor. She joined his campus group, Ndugu-Nzinga Rites of Passage. His powerful novel of the Middle Passage, The Coming influences the substantive track of the same name on Diamond Cut.
And were it not for saxophonist Joe Jennings, founder of the Jazz Studies program at Spelman, Tia might not have stayed beyond her freshman year. "I knew it wasn't going to be like a Berklee or Manhattan School of Music, a conservatory, but it wasn't the jazz program I had envisioned. It was very small, a jazz ensemble functioning under the umbrella of Mr. J.," she says. "At the time, I was under the traditional mindset. I needed to be able to play in a big band, to play in a combo, and have other musicians around me who were really going toward it. I was planning to transfer to Howard." “Mr. J.” recognized her potential and encouraged her to stay the course at Spelman. In retrospect, she’s glad she did: "It forced me to create my own conservatory in the community." She'd already performed professionally (playing Charlie Parker's “Donna Lee”) when she became old enough to sit in with her dad at Colorado jazz clubs. "So I had to be deliberate about my approach in placing myself amongst other professional musicians. I'd go sit in on sessions, and they became my teachers." She remembers that Joe Jennings was never one to give full stop praise because there was always room for improvement. "He would always tell me 'You're coming along, Tia.' He was a grounding force," she says. On Diamond Cut, she honors him and other "Joes" seminal in her development: Lovano and Henderson, with the tune, "Joe’n Around," which takes inspiration from each.
When Ray Charles utilized the talents of students from Atlanta's HBCU consortium on arrival with his big band, Tia was lead alto chair. "I think I was the only one from Spelman," she recalls of the concert performed at Morehouse's chapel. "He lit it up!" she exclaims. "I didn't get the chance to talk to him, though. I was so young and so scared." In 1998, she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a plan to "go straight to New York." The "crystallized vision" that she often speaks of was to plunge headlong into her performance career. But a friend of her father, the jazz studies director at the University of Colorado at Boulder had an offer. "Tia, I can get you a T.A. [teaching assistant] position, and you can go there for free and get your master's.” When she told her parents that she'd rather go to New York, her mother replied, "We're done paying for school, you better go get that free master's." Tia laughs and says, "I am so thankful I did. I was already in the practice of going to school. It was just another two years; I knocked it out." At twenty-five, she attained a Master of Music in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance, Summa Cum Laude, as the first graduate of the newly implemented program. It put her in "a different tier" for masterclasses, lectures, and clinics, which she's facilitated worldwide.
She then took a year off to practice and play with the family band, Fuller Sound in Colorado before making her way east. On September 9, 2001, she moved to Jersey City, NJ, across the Hudson River from where attacks on the World Trade Center would claim the lives of thousands only two days later. In the somber time thereafter, work slowed for musicians, and it forced Tia to step up her hustle. She got her first gig within two weeks, playing in a big band – at a fish fry in South Jersey. She played whenever and wherever from wedding bands to a weekly church gig. She taught reading, computers, and math at a private Catholic school. Fellow Coloradan saxophonist Brad Leali, then playing in the Count Basie Orchestra spread the word about the dexterous newcomer adept on the alto and soprano as well as the flute. She began performing and recording with jazz luminaries from the great Jimmy Heath to the late Nancy Wilson and in various ensembles with Jon Faddis, Wycliffe Gordon, Christian McBride, T.S. Monk, Ralph Peterson, Jr., Rufus Reid, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Tia and… Top row: Beyoncé; the women of Suga Mama; Esperanza Spalding; Ingrid Jensen and Terri Lyne Carrington. 2nd row: Jack DeJohnette; Mark Whitfield, Jr., Shamie Royston and Endea Owens; Christian McBride; Geri Allen. 3rd row: Quincy Jones; Terri Lyne Carrington and Publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn; Lizz Wright; Branford Marsalis. 4th row: Clive Davis; Shamie Royston; Roy Hargrove; her bestie, Margo Davis.
She formed an all-female quartet composed of her then-roommate, Rachel Eckroch on piano, Miriam Sullivan (now known as Mimi Jones) on bass, and Kim Thompson on drums. The sax-drum combo brought comparisons: Thompson, the Jeff "Tain" Watts to Tia's Kenny Garrett. Miki Hayama would replace Eckroch, and eventually, Shamie Royston would replace Hayama.
In 2004, with support from her parents, Tia self-produced her first album, Pillar of Strength, featuring trumpeter Sean Jones. Jones, with whom she played sax and flute, recorded the first song she’d ever written, “Eternal Journey,” the title track to his debut album. Hearing her, his record company, Mack Avenue Music Group, signed her in 2006. As she was preparing to record with the label, she caught wind of auditions for Suga Mama, the all-female touring band that Beyoncé was putting together.
Approximately 5000 women sought a coveted spot in the band; the line of hopefuls snaked around the building at Sony Studios. Tia wrestled with making a consciously “pop” presentation of "Work it Out" to Beyoncé's creative team but ultimately decided to be true to herself. And her authenticity prevailed – she received a callback for the second round of auditions. As providence would have it, the timing allowed her to go. She'd just wrapped up three days of studio sessions for her Mack Avenue debut recording, Healing Space. The talent pool narrowed to some sixty women who were put through the paces – hours of learning the song “Déjà Vu” by ear, the choreography, and, in different combos, playing cohesively as a band. Though Queen Bey wasn't present for most of this second round, it just so happened that she arrived shortly before Tia’s performance.
Beyoncés horn section was fire: “Got me looking, got me looking so crazy in love.” (See Tia at 5:05 here)
When the names of the women who’d made it to the next round were announced, Tia’s was not among them. But then she had a "Look at God" moment: creative director Kim Burse came back and said, "Tia Fuller? Beyoncé asked for you specifically.” She made the cut, and eventually, the band. For the next four years, she trotted the globe as a featured sax soloist in the "well-oiled machine" that was Beyoncé's touring company. Among the highlights were playing in the Obama White House and performing in Addis Ababa during Ethiopia's millennial celebrations in 2007.
Tia calls her time on tour "transformational." A masterclass on executing a production at the highest level. She observed Beyoncé comprehensively, marveling over her empowered leadership, clarity of vision, unassailable work ethic, and remarkable ability to alchemize "No" into "Yes." Not to mention, how to dance in heels. "It's endless what I learned from her." She says the pop icon is "unapologetic in her presentation." All aspects, from dazzling sets to lighting that centers and flatters her, to her hair, makeup, and wardrobe. "She dresses for the stage to wow her audience; not look like them," Tia says. Bey's star-making stage presence emboldened Tia to stop dulling her shine with menswear to fit in with the boys. Go glam or go home.
Girly from the get-go. Always down to accentuate those big, bright eyes. Photos courtesy of Tia Fuller
Between tours, she promoted Healing Space, let the jazz community know she was available for gigs and continued to create new compositions. The year 2010 brought the end of the Suga Mama stint and the release of her second Mack Avenue recording, Decisive Steps, followed by Angelic Warrior in 2012.
Tia remembers excitedly watching Terri Lyne Carrington on the Arsenio Hall Show in the late eighties: "I was like, man, this is a sister who's playing! It was a dream to meet her all those years later." (when Carrington came to a Beyoncé concert) "And now to work with her; I mean, that’s my girl!" She is proud to have participated in both the Mosaic Project and Money Jungle tours, as well as Dianne Reeves’ Beautiful Life tour. She is ever grateful to the GRAMMY winner for coming aboard to produce Diamond Cut and help steer her to new heights, working with masters.
Among the other remarkable women in Tia's orbit is dear friend, Esperanza Spalding. She worked with the "visionary and intelligent Espy" as assistant musical director of her Radio Music Society tour starting in 2012.
Twinning with "Momma”; kisses from “Daddy-D”; grinning with the sibs, Ashton and Shamie. Photos courtesy of Tia Fuller.
Leading into 2013 was a time both fraught with challenge and wrought with blessings as Tia navigated family health issues and "prayed for stability." In January, she received two phone calls within 24 hours, forcing her to make a hard choice. Resume her place in Suga Mama for a year-long tour (including a Super Bowl half time performance in New Orleans) or join the faculty of the Berklee College of Music. She would not let her ego win. She’d enjoyed the cache of touring with Beyoncé for years; it was now time to “step into her purpose.”
She hadn't intended to follow the path of her educator parents, yet a sax lesson she gave during grad school "turned on the light switch" regarding teaching. So when one of the foremost music schools in the country offered her a professorship in the Ensembles Department, it seemed a natural progression in her evolution. She began with a weekly New York-Boston commute to Berklee's campus, but has since sunk roots, and bought a Beantown home. She brings both academic and real-world experiential rigor to bear in the classroom and absolute devotion to her students who like trumpeter, Arnetta Johnson, (Berklee Class of 2016) benefit from her collaborative spirit. Tia's a steadfast proponent of visualization. A visiting clinician from her grad school days inspired an exercise she does with students today. She has her students map out where they want to be in ten years, encouraging them to envision exactly what they want it to look like. Having a crystallized vision when she did the exercise in her twenties helped her manifest within ten years, she says, "about 98 percent of what I wrote down.”
She remembers that her mother would share aphorisms extolling the virtues of "optimism and stick-to-it-iveness." Now she coins phrases and shares mantras with her students like, “Be proactive with your preparation to create smooth transitions.” She takes the "being a light" aspect of teaching very seriously. "I want to encourage and inspire and change the internal narratives we tell ourselves so we can keep moving in faith, not fear.” Yes, “keep working and honing your skills,” she says of technique. But she always balances that with humanity and compassion. “Also love yourself; affirm yourself."
Tia with the members of the Berklee School of Music Ariana Grande Ensemble. Photo by Ariff Danial.
"It was a goal to bring my experience of an A-list show like Beyoncé's to Berklee. And sure enough, the year that I decided to have the Beyoncé Ensemble was the 10th anniversary that we [the Suga Mama band] had been with her." The group reconvened as "The OGs” (the Original Beyoncé All-Female Band) to perform with Tia's ensemble students at Berklee. "It was the first time since our last concert together in 2010 that we were all together again. It was so extraordinary. We even used dancers from the Boston Conservatory. It was how I could give back to the community what was given to me from Beyoncé." That precedent-setting show established a trajectory for succeeding shows. There was the Bruno Mars Ensemble, complete with a smoke machine, a drumline, and choreography. “This year we did Micki Miller and Ariana Grande. Now, I’m inserting social justice pieces. It’s a massive undertaking, but my students do great work. They’re the programmers; they’re the arrangers. I have a whole management team and publicist who are students, and I’m just facilitating."
Beyoncé - Crazy In Love (Berklee Beyonce Band)
Beyoncé´s "Crazy In Love" performed by her original all-female band, and students from Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
As part of Berklee’s Signature Series, Beyoncé’s Original All-Female Band performed at the Berklee Performance Center for a 10-Year Anniversary Concert. Tia Fuller, saxophonist for Beyoncé and faculty director at Berklee, led the Berklee Beyoncé Band for several months of preparation. The overall journey culminated in an intense week of rehearsals with the ladies from Beyoncé’s all-female band, with a sold-out concert as a grand celebration for these outstanding women.
Beyoncé’s Original All-Female Band includes Berklee alumni Nikki Glaspie ’04 (drums) and Rie Tsuji ‘02 (keyboard), Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumna, Ebony Williams '05.
Tia Fuller:
Facebook: 
/ tiafullerjazz
Twitter: 
/ tiafuller
Site: http://www.tiafuller.com/
Alexis Newman:
Facebook: / lexcolemusic
Instagram: 
/ lexcolemusic
Twitter: / lexcolemusic
SoundCloud: 
/ lexcolemusic
YouTube: 
/ lexcolemusic
Site: www.LexColeMusic.com
Berklee Beyoncé Band: Facebook: / berkleebeyonce
Instagram: / berkleebeyonce
Original Girls:
Tia Fuller, Alto Saxophone Nikki Glaspie ’04, Drums Rie Tsuji ’02, Keyboard Ebony Williams ’05, Choreographer Katty Rodriguez, Tenor Saxophone Crystal Torres, Trumpet Brittani Washington, Piano Divinity Roxx, Bass Marcie Chapa, Percussion Crissy Collins, Singer
The GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album was first presented in 1959. In the 60 years since only one woman, Terri Lyne Carrington has won the celebrated prize, and that wasn’t until 2014. Poised to follow in the history-making footsteps of her fellow Berklee College of Music colleague and mentor, Tia was up for the same award in February for her Carrington-produced album.
Right there with her at the Staples Center were her father and sister and her supportive bestie, Margo Davis. "I always say 'everybody needs a Margo in their life.' She has sacrificed for me in so many different ways. She negotiated my deal for Diamond Cut.” Tia had a recent change in her team and was without a manager at the time. Margo stepped in with her business acumen, prepared and presented a proposal to Denny Stillwell, President of Mack Avenue.
Dazzling on the red carpet, Tia’s GRAMMY night look landed her on the best-dressed lists of Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines. Enjoying the festivities with her elegant squad: father, Fred, sister, Shamie, and sisterfriend, Margo. Red carpet photo: Zimbio/Getty Images. Other photos courtesy Tia Fuller.
Saxophone legend Wayne Shorter took home the golden gramophone on GRAMMY night, yet Tia felt honored to be nominated in the same category. She took the attention her historic nomination garnered to illuminate the wonderful contributions of unsung women in jazz and the woeful gender gap in music with an opinion piece for NBCNews.com. She also writes about the 14-member, intersectional feminist collective of performing artists, We Have Voice, which has developed a code of conduct for the performing arts and seeks to disrupt the patriarchal paradigm and integrate the industry. They are gratified that the Monterey Jazz Festival (in which Tia was a 2018 artist-in-residence) is now a fifty-fifty split, women to men.
Tia Fuller dipped in Cushnie and Cartier for the article, “Sisters of Swing” in the August 2019 issue of Vanity Fair. Photographed by Philip Montgomery.
Looking ahead, she plays a few more dates this summer with her Diamond Cut Band, including the stellar Friday lineup at the Newport Jazz Festival in August. She's planning a new recording with Trombone Shorty and her "OG" mate, drummer Nikki Glaspie. And she's hoping to squeeze in some vacation time. What does that look like? “A beach, definitely a beach; water. Not a bunch of excursions, that’s too much like work. Maybe snorkeling. And good wine." She laughs. "I asked my new trainer if we can build wine into my diet. He said, 'One glass.' I like cocktails too, the sweet ones, especially when I’m on vacation. A margarita, with a Grand Marnier topper!"
Tia’s TROVE:
1. The Bible. A spirit-driven child of God, she delights in the Lord. Psalm 37:4 inspired “Delight,” a paean to her Christian faith.
2. Walking out of the gym after a good workout. Nurturing mind, body, and spirit is a life practice. On tour in Sundvall, Sweden, she hit the gym with her prayer and workout partner, sis Shamie.
3. Spiritual, self-help and business books and videos. Some of the titles that have made it to her bookshelf.
2. Body con dresses and high heels. Petite Tia loves a high-heeled shoe – especially with a sturdy platform – and favors dresses that accentuate her strong, fit body.
Frozen yogurt, Miss Karen’s.
3. Ginger root/ginger tea, and 4. Soft-serve Vanilla Yogurt/Ice Cream. Double the yum.
Golden Mirror press-on nails from Lilium Nails.
7. Massages. With a schedule as intense as Tia’s is, downtime is at a premium, and self-care, a rejuvenating must.
8. Press-on nails. Again, the schedule. Press and go. Convenient.
Grilled shrimp recipe from Steven Raichlen’s Barbecue Bible.
9. Red wine. Preferably cabernet or red zinfandel. She enjoys FitVine (less sugar and fewer sulfites!) and Cline Ancient VIne.
10. My BBQ grill. She doesn’t eat red meat, but she loves to grill seafood and vegetables on her Dyna-Glo.
Find Tia at tiafuller.com apple music facebook instagram soundcloud spotify twitter youtube
https://www.tiafuller.com/about/#prettyPhoto[gallery_1]/1/
Biography
When Grammy-nominated Mack Avenue recording artist, composer, and bandleader Tia Fuller picks up her saxophone, something amazing happens. Blending technical brilliance, melodic creativity, and the performing precision drawn from both her academic and stage experience, Fuller is a force to be reckoned with in the worlds of jazz, pop, R&B, and more. Currently, Fuller balances the worlds of performance and education, fulfilling a demanding schedule as both a busy touring and recording artist and a full-time professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Fuller’s resume makes her uniquely qualified for these roles. The Denver, Colorado native graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, and summa cum laude with a Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Already established as a leading jazz musician, Fuller was selected to be a member of the all-female band touring with Grammy-winning pop star Beyoncé. Performing as part of the I AM … Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé Experience World Tour on stages across the globe, Fuller also became a featured soloist on the Beyoncé Experience DVD (Me, Myself and I), I AM Yours I DVD (Wynn Theatre) and also appeared on number of major television shows, including Today Show, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, BET Awards, American Music Awards, Grammy Awards and as a featured soloist with Beyoncé for President Obama at the White House.
An accomplished solo artist in her own right, Fuller has recorded five full-length projects with her quartet. Her most recent album, Diamond Cut, received a Grammy nomination in the Best Instrumental Jazz category; produced by three-time Grammy Award winner Terri Lyne Carrington, the album also features two superb rhythm sections, both of which contain some of jazz world’s brightest luminaries – bassist Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette, then bassist James Genus and drummer Bill Stewart. Adding texture and harmonic support of several compositions are guitarist Adam Rogers and organist Sam Yahel. Additionally, Carrington contributes to two tracks with percussion.
Fuller debuted in 2005 with her self-produced set, Pillar of Strength (Wambui); her sophomore release, Healing Space (2007/Mack Avenue), is an offering of “melodic medicine” and healing agents. Her third CD, Decisive Steps, also for the Mack Avenue label, received the number one JazzWeek rating for two weeks straight, landed at number three in JET magazine’s top jazz CDs listing, and was nominated for Best Jazz album by JazzWeek. And in 2012, she released her fourth album, Angelic Warrior, which received praise from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and numerous jazz publications. The saxophonist’s quartet has performed in countries and jazz fests around the world, including Angola, Croatia, South Africa, The Netherlands, Italy, Scotland, and the United States, just to name a few.
Fuller can also be seen touring regularly with several bands. She has appeared with Terri Lyne Carrington to perform her Grammy-winning Mosaic Project and Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue; served as assistant musical director for Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music Society tour; and recorded and toured with Dianne Reeves for her Grammy-winning Beautiful Life album. She has also performed with such luminaries as the Ralph Peterson Septet, Rufus Reid Quintet, Wycliff Gordan Septet, T.S. Monk Sextet, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Nancy Wilson Jazz Orchestra, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, Chaka Khan, Ledisi, Kelly Rowland, Jay-Z, Jill Scott, Patti LaBelle, Sheila E, Valerie Simpson, Dionne Warwick, Janelle Monáe, Patrice Rushen, Erykah Badu, and the late Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, and Geri Allen.
Fuller has also expanded her media presence as a model and essayist. In early 2019, she appeared in a cutting-edge “Rhythm in Blues” advertising campaign for national women’s retailer J.Jill. Her life-size image has been featured in more than 270 J.Jill display windows nationwide. In addition, Fuller will be featured in an exclusive Vanity Fair magazine shoot, celebrating women in jazz. Furthermore, Fuller has shared her experiences as a performer, educator, and first-time Grammy nominee as a female jazz musician via a timely opinion piece, on sexism in jazz for NBCNews.com, a feature story in the Associated Press and live interviews on such outlets as TV One’s Sister Circle. The dynamic saxophonist has also graced the cover of Downbeat Magazine, JazzTimes Magazine, Saxophone Today, Jazzed, and Jazz Education Journal.
In addition, she has received numerous awards and marks of distinction including, winning JazzTimes Jazz Critics Poll for best alto saxophonist (2018), and Downbeat Critic’s Poll-Rising Star two years in a row in the categories of Soprano Sax in 2014 and Alto Sax and Flute in 2013. In 2018, Fuller was honored with the Benny Golson Award from Howard University; received the Distinguished Alumnae Award as the commencement speaker at the University of Colorado at Boulder; and was appointed as the 2018 Artist-in-Residence at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, CA.
As a Professor at Berklee College of Music, Fuller shares her expertise with more than 70 students per week. She leads the college’s Rainbow Big Band and All-Stars, the Esperanza Ensemble, repertoire class, jazz improvisation, two jazz combos, and the Christian McBride Ensemble. In addition, she produces and directs groundbreaking large production ensembles focusing on the works of major pop innovators Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, and Micki Miller. Innovated by Fuller to provide more contemporary, real-world experiences for students, these ensembles are cross-collaborations with other college departments and duplicate an “A-list” tour production incorporating musicians, choreography, strings, dancers, video, and lighting.
As an artist, performer, and teacher, Fuller feels that she is fulfilling her purpose here on this earth, which is to “serve as a light for others.”
http://cso.org/about/performers/visiting-artists/tia-fuller/
MEET THE PERFORMERS: VISITING ARTISTS
Tia Fuller
Jazz
musicians are blessed with the desire and ability to play a genre that
has a history as rich as its sound. All the greats, past and present
know that it’s not enough to simply play the notes, one has to live the
music and feel it with every breath. When Mack Avenue recording artist,
Tia Fuller picks up her sax to play, the two become one and something
amazing happens as the notes and reverberations of her musical elixir
fill the room. Suddenly, everything in the universe feels right and it’s
easy to see and hear why this artist and teacher, who has a Bachelor of
Arts degree in Music from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, (Magna Cum
Laude) and Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the
University of Colorado at Boulder (Summa Cum Laude), was selected to be a
member of the all-female band touring with R&B star, Beyoncé. As
part of the I AM..Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé Experience World Tour
promoting the superstar’s CD’s, Tia has played in various venues
throughout the US, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. She is a featured
soloist on the Beyoncé Experience DVD(Me, Myself and I) and also
appeared on number of major television shows, such as The Oprah Winfrey
Show, Today Show, Good Morning America, BET Awards, American Music
Awards and Total Request Live.
An accomplished performer in her
own right, Tia has recorded three CDs with her quartet. The first,
Pillar of Strength (2005/Wambui), received praise as being "an
exhilarating work that introduced her as a leader who strives for
perfection" (Terrell Holmes, All About Jazz Magazine). Her sophomore
release, Healing Space (2007/Mack Avenue), is an offering of “melodic
medicine” that the wide-eyed optimist sincerely hopes will serve as a
healing agent for those who indulge in it. Tia will be releasing her
third CD “Decisive Steps”, Jan. 2010, which will be her second offering
under the Mack Avenue label. Her quartet was recently featured at Oris
Watches/ Time Tourneau building for WBGO’s jazz festival. Tia can also
be seen performing regularly with a number of bands, including the Ralph
Peterson Septet, the T.S. Monk Septet, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra,
the Rufus Reid Septet, the Sean Jones Quintet, the Nancy Wilson Jazz
Orchestra, and Wycliff Gordan Septet.
The dynamic saxophonist has
been featured in Jazz Improv Magazine, Rocky Mountain News, The
Philadelphia Tribune, The Star Ledger, Downbeat Magazine and many other
print and online publications. In addition to receiving numerous awards
and marks of distinction, Tia was honored to be the keynote speaker at
the Jazz Institute of New Jersey’s 2003 graduation ceremony, where she
presented her “Journey to Success” speech. She also be featured solist
playing “The National Anthem” for Detroit Tiger Stadium in Sept. 2009.
Also, in January 2008, she had the privilege of participating in a press
conference with pianist and composer, Danilo Perez and the Governor of
the Republic of Panama, Carlos A. Villarino.
Tia believes her
passion for teaching and inspiring students is in her genes because her
parents were educators/administrators in the Denver Public School
District. As a devoted educator, she presents lectures and teaches
ensembles and masterclasses at some of the most respected institutions
in the country, including Stanford University’s “Jazz Workshop,” the
University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, New Mexico State
University, the IAJE Jazz Convention, Purchase College, WBGO’s “Children
in Jazz” Series, Duquesne University and Panama Jazz Festival.
Tia
moved to Jersey City, NJ two days before the events of September 11,
2001. Despite the fact that the jazz community believed there was not
much work in the area during that period, she wasn’t discouraged and
used the tragic event as a reason to succeed. She got her first gig
playing in a big band at a fish fry in South Jersey. Brad Leali, who was
playing in the Count Basie Orchestra at the time, spread the word that
Tia was a skillful saxophonist who also played the flute. This brought
her to the attention of others in the jazz community, including Gerald
Wilson, Jimmy Heath, Don Braden and Don Byron, which led to her
performing with a number of luminaries in the world of jazz.
With
music in her blood and a song in her heart, Tia was born in Aurora,
Colorado to jazz musicians, Fred and Elthopia Fuller. Her father, Fred
plays bass and her mother, Elthopia sings. She grew up listening to her
parents rehearse in the basement of their home, as well as the music of
jazz greats, such as John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughn and Charlie Parker. I
Inspired
by her older sister, Shamie, Tia began playing classical piano when she
was just three years old and continued until she was thirteen. She also
began studying the flute when she was nine. Her interest in jazz came
into fruition in high school. It was during this time that she began
playing the saxophone.
The Colorado native, who now resides in
Essex County, New Jersey, says playing music makes her feel as if she is
a vessel for the Spirit to flow through. While listening to her songs,
she wants people to be uplifted and experience a sense of restoration,
compelling them to move forward not in fear, but in love and faith.
TIA FULLER:
http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/tiafuller
Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Swing
is the musical manifestation of forward motion. To achieve one’s goals,
one must take giant steps. Today’s modern musicians at the change of
the 21st century are moving miles ahead, advancing the jazz continuum,
while remaining open and engaged in other musical inventions and
dimensions. The astonishingly gifted, Colorado-born, alto / soprano
saxophonist / flautist Tia Fuller is such an artist. She is at home at
all points of the musicverse--from her show-stopping solos as a member
of superstar Beyoncé’s all-female band, to her scintillatingly swinging
jazz dates and recordings. Her newest Mack Avenue release Decisive
Steps, is the long-awaited follow-up to her 2007 label debut Healing
Space. It features her Beyoncé bandmate, drummer Kim Thompson; bassist
Miriam Sullivan; Fuller’s sister, Shamie Royston on piano and Fender
Rhodes; with special guests, trumpeter Sean Jones and bassist Christian
McBride (both Mack Avenue label mates); vibraphonist Warren Wolf; and
tap dancer Maurice Chestnut.
“It’s a continuation of Healing
Space, evolving from a stationary place of healing to steps of action,”
Fuller says. “I’ve been in the mindset of really moving forward to the
next level in my life, constantly being in the mindset of greatness,
relentless in my pursuit and progressing with purpose by embracing my
talents, recognizing my strengths and improving upon my weaknesses…but
also in not being afraid of change; stepping forward in faith and not in
fear.”
Indeed, the ten tracks on this sumptuous CD aurally
illustrate Fuller’s artistic fearlessness fulfilled by her agile,
buoyant and elegant full-bodied sax lines effortlessly improvising a
number of moods and grooves, as evidenced by the take-no-prisoners tempo
of the title track. “The first track, ‘Decisive Steps,’ was one of the
last songs that I wrote for the album,” Fuller says. “This particular
song is very intricate--it has a lot of hits and time changes, so,
compositionally, I wanted to portray a sonic representation of momentum;
in moving forward, and really feature everybody in the quartet.”
Royston’s Icarusian “Windsoar” highlights she and her sister’s
telepathic compositional bond. “We have a way of writing, where our
songs are almost seamless,” Fuller says. “It’s funny; when Shamie
started writing ‘Windsoar,’ it begins with a melody surrounded by a
concert B-flat, and I was like, ‘Shamie…I just started writing ‘Clear
Mind’ with the same concept of the harmonies surrounding the melody of
the B-flat.’ We were writing in the same light of each other. We didn’t
talk about it; it was intuitive.”
That intuitive simpatico comes
through loud and clear on the funky “Ebb & Flow,” which features
McBride and Sullivan. “The concept of the song was inspired by one of my
Spelman [College] sisters reunion,” Fuller says. “In preparing for my
recording and taking those aggressive steps, you have to be one with the
spirit--allowing the ebb and flow of the physical and spiritual to
become one.” “Shades of McBride” is Fuller’s finessed take on McBride’s
“Shade of the Cedar Tree.” “My melody is an expansion of his melody,
over different chord changes. After a week of singing my melody over his
tune, I knew it was complete,” Fuller says. “He’s been a mentor of mine
and a great friend.”
The interlude “Steppin’,” featuring tap
dancer Maurice Chestnut, takes Fuller’s thematic concept to a new level.
“Prior to the recording I had the opportunity to meet Maurice
Chestnut…we did some gigs together with the T.S. Monk Septet. I was like
‘man, I’d really like to feature him--tying it along with the concept
of decisive steps…to audibly represent stepping.’ I was thinking what
better way to do that, than with a tap dancer. Musically, it’s an
interlude to represent moving forward and serves as a transition within
the sequence of the album.”
The Latinesque “Kissed by the Sun”
was “inspired by a melody I that was in my head as I awoke, the sun
hitting my face...it felt like a kiss.” Likewise, the waltz-like “Night
Glow,” penned by Shamie Royston’s husband [Rudy Royston], is equally
impressive. The album also contains Fuller’s ingenious reworking of two
well-worn standards. “On ‘I Can’t Get Started’ I wanted to feature the
amazing artistry of Christian McBride and Warren Wolf,” Fuller shares.
“I wanted to experience the purity of the bass, sax and vibe
combination, absent of drums. This arrangement expands the timbre of the
album and recording with Christian is a dream come true--this trio
combination is timeless. On ‘My Shining Hour’ I wanted something we
could ‘burn-out’ on, but also something that grabs the listener’s
attention. This arrangement gives us the harmonic freedom…simple, yet
complex bass-line over the classic melody is the ultimate balance of the
familiar meeting the unfamiliar...closing the album with the excitement
of the quartet.”
The bonus track, “Life Brings,” a percussive,
“syncopated spiritual” featuring Chestnut and vocalist Asaph Womack,
will be available digitally. “It’s a blueprint of what I want to do in
the future: an orchestral piece, with a full choir, video and tap
dancers--a large production.”
On Decisive Steps, Fuller’s sound
is soaring, supple and in-the-pocket from years of channeling her horn
heroes. “The first solo I transcribed was Cannonball Adderley’s ‘Stars
Fell on Alabama’ my freshman year at Spelman,” Fuller says. “I’ve always
had a deep love for Cannonball. I always find myself going back to him.
He has everything in his playing: soul, technique, his sound is
amazing. Also John Coltrane; he’s another person that I checked out
early on. I actually heard him before I started playing the saxophone
because my parents are musicians. My Dad played Giant Steps throughout
the house when I was eight, nine, or ten [laughs]. Recently, I’ve really
been checking out Earl Bostic. With the Beyonce gig, I have a solo
where I am playing a twelve bar G blues intro [the cadenza before “Work
It Out” while Beyonce is talking] and I thought, let me check out Earl
Bostic, Trane did. More importantly, he was one of the saxophone legends
that mastered the art of playing in the R&B world, the pop world
and the jazz world…ultimately speaking the language and dialect of each
genre.”
Fuller’s jazz-rooted, genre-crossing artistry is the
result of an arts-filled childhood. She was born in Aurora, Colorado to
musician parents, bassist Fred and singer Elthopia, who both taught in
the Denver Public School District. She grew up listening to Coltrane,
Sarah Vaughan and Charlie Parker. She started playing classical piano at
the age of three, inspired by her older sister, Shamie, and studied the
instrument for ten years. She started playing the flute at the age of
nine and began playing the saxophone, deepening her interest in middle
school. In 1998, she graduated Magna Cum Laude at Spelman College in
Atlanta (where she studied with the great saxophonist/educator Joe
Jennings) and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music; graduated Summa
Cum Laude from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Master of
Music degree, Jazz Pedagogy and Performance in 2000.
Fuller made
the eventual move to New York, relocating to nearby Jersey City,
arriving two days before September 11, 2001. Undaunted by the terrible
times of that period, she forged ahead and played and recorded with some
of jazz’s brightest stars, including the Duke Ellington Big Band, Nancy
Wilson, T.S. Monk, Don Byron, Brad Leali, Wycliff Gordan, Mickey Roker,
Ralph Petersen, Jon Faddis, Rufus Reid, Jimmy Heath, Gerald Wilson,
Sean Jones, Charlie Persip, and Don Braden. Then, on June 17, 2006 she
was hired by Beyoncé and, as they say, the rest is history. “Playing
with her is truly amazing,” Fuller says. “I’ve really learned a lot
about maintaining your integrity, and also how as an artist, you have to
be the facilitator…surrounding yourself with a great team that shares
and helps to facilitate your vision. Also, learning to engage and
entertain your audience, as well as being consistent. There’s something
to it, playing the same show every night, almost verbatim. And every
night, that consistency is able to grab and keep sixteen and seventeen
thousand people a night; and for them, to have the most amazing
experience. So it’s really empowering--not only to be performing with
her, and to see how high of a work ethic she has, but to also be in a
band of all women that are ALL creative and musical legends, in their
own right. The ten of us musically enhance each other. Each of us
contribute a different piece of the puzzle, something completely
different; yet equally important to Beyonce’s band.”
Along with
her high-profile gig with Beyonce, Fuller has also emerged as a solo
recording artist. In 2005 she released her first CD as a leader
(produced by mother, Elthopia Fuller), Pillar of Strength (Wambui),
which was praised by Terrell Holmes of All About Jazz for being “an
exhilarating work that introduced her as a leader who strives for
perfection,” followed by her Mack Avenue debut, Healing Space in 2007.
Her teaching credentials are equally expansive and impressive. She has
conducted numerous clinics and master classes at the middle, high
school, and college levels, including: Jazz Institute of New Jersey,
Aurora Public Schools, Mile High Jazz Camp, University of Colorado at
Boulder, Miami-Dade Community College, Jazz Institute of New Jersey,
Stanford Jazz Workshop, Drexel University, Montclair State University,
Bloomfield College, and New Mexico State University. Which brings us to
Decisive Steps: Tia Fuller’s latest sonic testament to her ever
upward-and-evolving evolution toward artistic perfection; an evolution
that is taking place in an intricately intertwined musical world where
an artist combines a myriad of genres. “The Beyonce gig has helped me to
really appreciate the artistry and freedom that we have in jazz,”
Fuller says. “Playing in jazz settings helps me to appreciate and
integrate what we’re doing with Beyonce. They balance each other out.
And I’m learning that they’re both the same. Playing in front of sixteen
thousand people, or sixty people, it’s the same, because it’s all about
people, transferring energy, uplifting and encouraging spirits and
sharing the love of music. There’s a common thread between the two, and
they enhance each other. I think musicians are taking a step forward on
both sides; we’re moving forward with combining all forms, and more
people are accepting that concept, because it’s all inter-connected. We,
as a people, are taking Decisive Steps!”
https://www.tiafuller.com/releases/
| Mosaic 2 – Terri Lyne Carrington Concord Music Group | 2014 |
| Beautiful Life – Dianne Reeves Concord Music Group | 2014 |
| Money Jungle – Terri Lyne Carrington Concord Music Group | 2013 |
| Angelic Warrior – Tia Fuller Mack Avenue Records | 2012 |
| Duality Perspective – Ralph Peterson | 2012 |
| Decisive Steps – Tia Fuller Quartet Mack Avenue Records | 2010 |
| I Am Yours… And Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas (DVD), Beyonce Music World/Columbia | 2009 |
| Groove’s Mood: The Aggregation – Eddie Allen Big Band | 2009 |
| The Beyonce Experience (Live Instrumentals) Music World/Sony | 2008 |
| Beyoncé – 50th Grammy Awards performace (Recorded saxophone track and arranged horns for spoken word portion) | 2008 |
| In This Day – E.J. Strickland Project | 2008 |
| Beyoncé Experience (DVD), “Me, Myself and I” sax solo Sony/Music World | 2007 |
| Kaleidoscope – Sean Jones Quintet Mack Avenue Records | 2007 |
| Healing Space – Tia Fuller Mack Avenue Records | 2007 |
| Turned to Blue – Nancy Wilson Jazz Orchestra | 2005 |
| Pillar of Strength – Tia Fuller Quintet | 2005 |
| Gemini – Sean Jones Mack Avenue Records | 2005 |
| Maria Juanez – Brad Leali Big Band | 2004 |
| Vibrant – Miki Hayama Quintet | 2004 |
| Eternal Journey – Sean Jones Quintet Mack Avenue Records | 2003 |
| Kit McClure Big Band | 2003 |
| Joe Budden – Joe Budden Def Jam Records | 2002 |
| Eternal Journey – Fuller Sound (Independent) | 1999 |
Tia Fuller's Berklee Rainbow Band, "Blues for Warren" (Thara Memory)
Tia Fuller directs the Berklee Rainbow Band performing "Blues for Warren" by Thara Memory at the 2014 Berklee College of Music Commencement Concert.
http://thejazzline.com/interviews/2012/12/interview-tia-fuller/
Tia Fuller: Angelic Warrior
by Veronica Grandison
Reviews Editor
September 26, 2012
Saxophonist Tia Fuller is about as musically diverse as one can get. From her stints on the road with pop superstar Beyonce, to leading her own band, and most recently serving as the assistant musical director for Esperanza Spalding‘s Radio Music Society tour, you could say that Fuller has taken full advantage of the versatility that comes with being a musician. Those experiences have also helped shape her musical and personal style. We got a dose of that evolution on her last album, Decisive Steps, in which she elegantly embraced her feminine appeal and artistic distinction as a contemporary jazz saxophonist and composer.
Now, Fuller’s musical and stylistic progression has come full circle in the form of Angelic Warrior, her third album for Mack Avenue Records. There is a real heroic spirit to the album, emphasized in part by Fuller’s highly developed sense of dexterity and gracefulness on the alto and soprano saxophone. She stretches her creativity by utilizing the piccolo and electric bass as one of the main instruments for melodic and harmonic purposes. Bassist John Patitucci and Fuller have great musical chemistry as they both create colorful textures while showcasing their improvisational skills.
Fuller is also in good company with her longtime pianist and sister, Shamie Royston, and drummer Rudy Royston (Fuller’s brother-in-law), who all take the spotlight on the up-tempo, optimistic number “Royston Rumble.” The husband and wife team start the track off and then Fuller takes the lead, engaging in a complex solo spurt before Patitucci comes in and slows the piece down with mid tempo phrases. That up-beat tune is followed by the sexy, Latin flavored “Ralphie’s Groove.”
In addition to her original compositions, Fuller spices up a few standards such as “Body and Soul” which features the classy vocal stylings of Dianne Reeves and the rhythmic heavy tune “So In Love w/ All Of You” a distinctive arrangement of two Cole Porter songs, “So in love” and “All of You.” She also tackles the bebop classic “Cherokee” and puts an electronic, jazz fusion twist on the song with a rapid jungle beat provided by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, who also arranged the tune with Fuller.
Another positive note about the album is its diverse song selections, and its embracing of the past while celebrating the modernity of jazz.
The edgy, rock ‘n’ roll and R&B groove “Tailor Made” which features a crafty electric bass line from Patitucci attests to the album’s eclecticism as well as the Caribbean-esque tune “Descend to Barbados.”
The title track “Angelic Warrior” has a virtuous tone as reflected through the high pitched timbre of Fuller on soprano sax and at the same time, the military style rhythm by Carrington symbolizes the courageous spirit of her music. The tune fluctuates between a fast and slow tempo and ends on a fierce note.
Fuller has definitely broken out of her shell as an artist and continues to push her creative limits to the max. Angelic Warrior is proof that she can incorporate popular music into her style while still staying true to her jazz roots.
Key Personnel: Tia Fuller (saxes), Shamie Royston (piano, Fender Rhodes), Mimi Jones (bass), Rudy Royston (drums), Shirazette Tinnin (percussion), Terri Lynne Carrington (drums), John Patitucci (bass), Dianne Reeves (vocals).
Tia Fuller (left), Sharel Cassity and Lakecia Benjamin took the stage and delivered at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival. (Photo: Paul Carr)
Bristling cutting contests are as cherished in jazz as bracing collaborations. When the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival billed its Feb. 19 performance of Lakecia Benjamin, Sharel Cassity and Tia Fuller as “The Alto Madness Summit,” one could possibly imagine a scintillating jousting of virtuosic skills from each saxophonist at the risk of more nuanced communal bond. The concert, which took place on the Ronnie Wells Main Stage inside the Hilton Hotel in Rockville, Maryland (right outside of Washington, D.C.), is named in honor of the 1957 LP Alto Madness, on which Jackie McLean dueled with John Jenkins, and the 1968 LP Alto Summit led by Lee Konitz, Pony Poindexter, Phil Woods and Leo Wright. Both albums suggest friendly-fire showdowns.
During their festival performance, each saxophonist demonstrated lavish pyrotechnics throughout a program of mostly jazz classics. But thankfully, they didn’t engage in the gladiatorial upmanship that oftentimes result in flashy, but ultimately forgettable, all-star sets. Instead, when it came time to trade off on improvisation, they listened keenly to the zipping phrasing of one of another, whether it was designed more with melodic contours or spiky riffs. And once the other saxophonist began, they built upon the sophisticated improvisation of the previous player.
In addition to showing an awareness of each other, the saxophonists interacted with the accompanying rhythm section in quick-witted antiphonic banter. Pianist Allyn Johnson, bassist Amy Shook and drummer Lewis Nash certainly didn’t relegate themselves simply to supporting cast. Collectively and individually, they provided the three altos with aggressive-yet-convivial repartee that elevated the proceedings beyond rote jam sessions.
The concert commenced with a vivacious reading of Hank Mobley’s “This I Dig Of You,” on which Fuller’s hearty tone and fluid passages first stated the joyous melody against the rhythm section’s buoyant accompaniment. Cassity then joined Fuller for a unison reiteration of the melody before Fuller blasted into a writhing improvisation. Her solo set the bar not only for Cassity to deliver an equally fiery essay, but for the entire concert. Before the song ended, Benjamin joined them on stage and waxed a boiling solo, accentuated by dissonant flares and rapid-fire riffs that reminisced old-school saxophonists from the ’60s, who were as versed in barrelhouse blues as they were in hard-bop.
After that dynamic kick-off, which also included burning solos from each member of the rhythm section, the concert paved way for spotlights of each leader per song. Benjamin led with a testifying reading of John Coltrane’s “Liberia” — a nod to her latest album, Pursuance: The Coltranes — this time revealing her affinity for searing long-tone passages and surging multiphonic wails.
Cassity followed with a tribute to one of her mentors, Kenny Garrett, with her original “Kenny’s Quest,” a modal burner that illustrated Coltrane’s influence on Garrett’s compositional ingenuity. Cassity at once danced inside Nash and Shook’s propulsive, airtight rhythm, then she soared majestically above while Johnson anchored the proceedings with thick block-chords worthy of McCoy Tyner.
In concluding this segment of the concert, Fuller paid respect to one of her mentors, Ralph Peterson Jr. with her forceful original, “Breakthrough,” on which she alluded to the late honoree’s knack for delivering thunderous drumming dialogues with sinewy horn solos when she engaged Nash in an explosive duet.
Whereas incendiary uptempo pieces distinguished the first half, the second part allowed the saxophonists to lower the flame on a trio of ballads that once again gave each one the spotlight. Cassity began with a sumptuous reading of Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge” that maximized her rhapsodic tone and swaggering phrasing. Fuller masterfully picked up from Cassity’s melodic phrasing to launch into a luxurious reading of Vernon Duke and Ira Gershwin’s “I Can’t Get Started.” After Fuller delivered a slowing cadenza, Benjamin took the stage for sensual makeover of Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin’s “Easy Living” on which she enlivened the melody with subtle growls and hot-blooded howlers.
The Alto Madness Summit concluded with a frothy treatment of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “My Shining Hour,” on which the three saxophonists tore into the snazzy melody with gleeful aplomb. DB
http://kuumbwajazz.org/tia-fuller-quartet-friday-may-18/
Tia Fuller Quartet
Friday, May 18
Kuumbwa Jazz
When Tia Fuller isn’t leading her own quartet, you may have heard the gifted alto saxophonist/flutist with a variety of performers in the jazz and pop world. Her dynamic sound, inspired by Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane, has been featured with Nancy Wilson, Jon Faddis, Sean Jones, and pop diva Beyonce. Elements of bop, gospel, Brazilian, and funk are infused throughout her energetic music. Fuller has three recordings out under her own name, the latest being the critically praised Decisive Steps (Mack Avenue Recordings). Most recently, she was named Musical Director for Esperanza Spalding’s eagerly awaited Radio Music Society tour.
Tia Fuller grew up in Aurora, Colorado. Her parents were educator/administrators in the Denver public school system and also musicians. Playing music was a regular part of her early life. At age 3, she was already trying to imitate her older sister, Shamie, at the piano. By age 9, she started taking flute lessons. In high school, she focused on saxophone and her burgeoning interest in playing jazz. Academically inclined, Fuller has a Bachelor of Arts in music from Spelman College in Atlanta and a Masters in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Fuller relocated to New Jersey in 2001, plunging into the jazz scene, and going all out to become established as a working musician. Gigs with big bands led by Charli Persip, Don Byron, and Jon Faddis helped make Fuller a talent worth hearing. In 2006, Fuller was selected to be part of pop diva Beyonce’s Experience World Tour.
Fuller’s association with Beyonce gave her high exposure on an international level, something rarely accorded a jazz artist. Yet, Fuller continued to nurture her solo career, working with her quartet on recordings and concert appearances. To date, she has three CDs under her own name, and received kudos from all corners of the jazz world. She also maintains a busy schedule as a music clinician, preparing the next generation of jazz musicians, and spreading the word on the therapeutic, as well as the artistic, aspects of music. Idealism and music go together for Fuller. She strongly believes in the ability of music to uplift and inspire people in their daily life. Her energetic performances, where she never gives less than 100%, bear this out. When not leading her own group, Fuller plays regularly in a number of stellar groups, including the Rufus Reid Septet, Sean Jones Quintet, and T.S. Monk’s septet. This inventive straight-ahead player has been described by one critic as “among the top tier of current saxophone players.” Definitely, one to watch!
Beyond Category: Tia Fuller
Acclaimed jazz saxophonist Tia Fuller has made her name appearing with such high-profile artists as Beyonce, Esperanza Spalding, and Terri Lyne Carrington. Mixing high-energy bebop with soulful funk, Tia joins Eric with her band at the Strathmore Mansion in Rockville Maryland. Originally published at - http://www.voanews.com/media/video/24.
Sessie Tia Fuller:
Mix - Sessie Tia Fuller:
The
Tia Fuller Quartet play the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre Cabaret at the
Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts on the UC Davis Campus.
Tia Fuller Quartet
Tia Fuller: Alto and Soprano Saxophones
Mimi Jones: Bass
Rudy Royston: Drum
Rachel Eckroth: Piano
FULL CONCERT: Tia Fuller @ Saxquest - November 13, 2014
While having performed in a multitude of musical idioms, it’s the jazz quartet where Tia has focused her recordings as a leader. It’s this setting where she really shines, not only in her ability to play with a spell bounding modern lyricism, but also her ability to interact with the quartet, where all members of the ensemble are on an equal footing.
Tia Fuller Quartet
LIVE: Tia Fuller Quartet 2018
yutaka tanaka
TIA FULLER QUARTET:
Tia Fuller alto sax
Andrew Renfroe guitar
Chris Smith bass
Mark Whitfield Jr. drums.
Tia Fuller featuring The Ron Savage Trio - "My Favorite Things"
The Cambridge Jazz Foundation hosted by Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge presents "'Celebrating John Coltrane."
3/12/2022
Featuring:
Tia Fuller: saxophones
Consuelo Candelaria-Barry: piano
Ron Mahdi: bass
Ron Savage: drums
Tia Fuller Quintet Live at Birdland Theater, January 14th, 2022
Streamed live on January 14, 2022
Tia Fuller Quintet Live at Birdland Theater:
Tia Fuller (saxophone)
Andrew Renfroe (guitar)
Shamie Fuller-Royston (piano/keyboards)
Eric Wheeler (bass)
Mark Whitfield Jr. (drums)
Hamilton Live: Tia Fuller
Jazz saxophonist Tia Fuller has made her name appearing with such high-profile artists as Beyonce, Esperanza Spalding, and Terri Lyne Carrington. Tia and her quartet perform music from her CD “Angelic Warrior.” Originally published at - http://www.voanews.com/media/video/19...
Tia Fuller Diamond Cut Band
September 27, 2018
