“While she is not afraid to get her hair in a tangle, this bandleader puts the accent on melody and the remote-control imperative that drives the tapping of your helpless toe.”—Greg Burk, LA Weekly
“Playing saxophone and accordion as well as vocalizing, Jessica Lurie wears many hats in this adventurous but melodic group.”—Nate Chinen, New York Times
“… a terrific sound-scape, songs and music composed and performed by Jessica Lurie … and like a cake that’s expertly layered with icing in all the right places, saxophonist Lurie weaves her way through their sweet multi-kulti lair with a flair suggestive of a Balkan John Coltrane or klezmerized Sonny Rollins.”—off-off blogway
NYC-based instrumentalist Jessica Lurie defies all boundaries bringing her individual sound to diverse types of music while preserving their stylistic authenticity. Jessica’s main instruments are saxophones, flute, clarinet, as well as voice and accordion, and she is an avid composer as well.
Jessica composes for and performs and records worldwide with several groups including the Tiptons Sax Quartet (formerly the Billy Tipton Memorial Sax Quartet), The Living Daylights Trio, funk-latin bands La Buya and Zemog, and Balkan party-band Sheqer. Her own group, The Jessica Lurie Ensemble (JLE), highlights Lurie’s talents as band leader and composer as well as player.
She is currently celebrating her new release Shop of Wild Dreams (2009) co-produced by Todd Sickafoose, that features Todd on acoustic bass, Allison Miller on drums, Erik Deutsch on keyboard, and Brandon Seabrook on banjo and guitar. Shop of Wild Dreams is receiving praise internationally, described as “original, soulful, entirely unpredictable – call it jazz as that’s the only genre big enough to contain it but listen for influences from East European choral singing to roots American country gospel, experimental jazz to to deep groovin’ funky beats. ”
Jessica has performed, toured or recorded with international artists including Bill Frisell, The Indigo Girls, Danijel Zezelj, David Krakauer, Fred Wesley, Amy Denio, Zemog, Pharoah’s Daughter, Skerik, Mike Clark, Allison Miller, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Carl Densen, Garaj Mahal, The Pat Grainey Dance Company, Eyvind Kang, Wayne Horvitz, Booker Washington Jr., Leo Neocentelli, Paul McCandless, Calvin Weston, Sleater Kinney, The Shakin’ Ray Levis Society, Frank London, Kenny Wolleson, Todd Sickafoose, Jenny Scheinman, James Blood Ulmer Trio, The Brazilian Girls, Les Claypool, Nels Cline, The Berkeley Symphony and NYC’ s Circus Amok and Great Small Works theatre company among others.
In 2000, Lurie started her own label, Zipa! Music, and has released 8 recordings as well as being a part of over 35 recordings. In 2006 Jessica was awarded a Sundance Music Institute Fellowship for film composition, and her work as a composer has been supported by national and international granting organizations, and she is featured in the new jazz documentary Icons Among Us (2009). Jessica is currently teaching composition and technique in NYC with Orchestra St. Luke’s and The Manhattan New Music Project. She has recently co-created several grant supported multi-media workshops for middle school students in Seattle and Brooklyn, combining dance, visual arts and poetry with music composition. She is currently working on new music for her new project The Pasolini Trio, as well as live painting and music performance “Once” with artist Danijel Zezelj.
The Jessica Lurie Ensemble has been featured at: SXSW, The Zagreb Animateka Festival, Pisa Instabile Festival, Motovun Film Festival, Babel Arts festival, Earwing No Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival, CMJ Jazz Festival, Galeria in Modena D406, Bumbershoot International Music Festival, and the Earshot Jazz Festival. Her latest CD Shop of Wild Dreams (2009) has been reviewed and acclaimed in All About Jazz (NY and Italy), Jazziz, Jazz Times, Downbeat, Chicago Jazz Magazine, The New Yorker, Jambase and the International Review of Music.
Jessica Lurie
zipa@earthlink.net
http://www.jessicalurie.com
http://www.myspace.com/jessicaluriemusic
http://www.myspace.com/tiptons
http://www.myspace.com/sheqer
http://www.myspace.com/labuyamusic