Solo Projects & CDs

LOTS OF NEW CDS!!
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN ON THE LEFT TO SEE WHAT IS AVAILABLE. THANKS!

Cds and DIGITAL DOWNLOADS are also available through:

http://www.reapandsow.com

and

http://www.cdbaby.com

LICORICE & SMOKE (Zipa!Music, November 2005) showcases Jessica's song writing and singing, plus the great musicianship of Nels Cline (gtr), Todd Sickafoose (bs) and Scott Amendola (dr), plus other special guests. In addition there is a beautiful music video clip produced by film maker Mario Amura and visual artist Danijel Zezelj.
The new disk presents a repertoire that is "... truly interesting, varied and intense. She ... refuses to be limited by language or style when approaching the music and atmosphere of songs, be it Sicilian dialect, deep grooves, or combinations of sound that reflect the heat of the American south. What resonates strongly is that she performs all of these styles without ever losing her personality; Lurie has succeeded in imprinting herself on these various genres and not the other way around. " (Musicologi) Available through this site or CDbaby.com

DRIVE, the second CD release by THE TIPTONS SAX QUARTET is a magical, lush and groove oriented musical excursion. Released in October 2005, it highlights new songs and vocal pieces, plus a special guest appearance by Artis The Spoonman. “... Minute precision, solid arrangements, an excellent control of dynamics, a multi-stylized repertoire, and sparkling execution ... their unique singing style creates shapes and timbres that move into experimental jazz. It is truly a beautiful lesson of what is vital in jazz, inviting... filled with radical thought that can be maintained without losing its tenderness.” Flavio Massarutto, ll Gazzettino

On THIS IS WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE saxophonist/flutist Jessica Lurie and percussionist Andrew Drury carve out an engaging middle ground between groove-based improvisation and abstract exploration. The Lurie/Drury Duo don't take the easy route however, which would be to lay funky instrumental licks on top of scattered, spooky percussion. Instead, the pair range and roam widely within each song, sometimes on a moment to moment basis. Clattering metal sheets might accompany a hoarse Balkan wail, yet seconds later, a tender flute tune marches in time to a splatting snare drum. Unlike the forced, groove-enslaved eclecticism of a jam band, it all fits together into a series of short songs and smart tunes with unusual yet nonetheless attractive shapes. Lurie and Drury make just the right kind of music to move the mind and the behind. Christopher DeLaurenti

ZIPA!BUKA (WATCH OUT! NOISE) released by Lurie (March, 2002) on her own label Zipa!Music. Described as "...a feast for those who favor the crossroads where post-bop blurs boundaries between jam-band textures, avant-jazz colors, and much more."(Andrew Bartlett, Seattle Weekly), this project features Lurie's talents as band leader and composer as well as player. An added bonus with this ensemble is that Lurie steps out from behind the sax and sing as well. Zipa!Buka! features Lurie on alto and tenor sax and voice, drummer Scott Amendola, bassist Keith Lowe and violaist Eyvind Kang, as well as the skilled fingering of guitarists Leif Totusek and Jason Seed, and fresh sounds of Sue Orfield (BTMSQ) on tenor.

SCHOOL OF ONE
School of One is a collaborative CD from Jessica Lurie and Seattle drummer Will Dowd. These 15 tunes stem from improvisations and music for mixed media pieces that they have worked on over the past year and a half. Featuring special guests Orville Johnson (dobro), Reuben Radding (acoustic bass) and Arne Livingston (electric bass).

JESSICA LURIE, MOTORBISON SERENADE (Jessica Lurie) - "Lurie must be considered a young lioness of the saxophone with this debut solo release; her playing, as well as her compositional and arranging ideas, are nothing short of spectacular. Mostly in a chamber style setting (acoustic bass, viola, tuba, electric guitar, drums, ocassional trumpet, and of course, saxes), much of this is chamber groove, with elements of out jazz, the circus on acid and even surf-jazz thrown in. Superb. Playing and ideas worthy of anybody in NYC's downtown, the M-Base, the Chicago or European jazz scenes from this Seattle-based treasure." Pause Record.com . Features violist Eyvind Kang, guitarist Timothy Young, and bassist Matthew Sperry, and drummer Greg Campbell.

LA LUCE AZZURRA Jessica Lurie & Metropolizani
The CD Luce Azzura is comprised of 12 compositions and improvisations created and structured by Jessica Lurie in December 1997, and recorded in Spring 1998. Several of the pieces are collaborations that came out of a week long workshop between Lurie and "I Metropolizani" (a cultural association of 10 musicians and improvisers based in Montepulciano, Italy). All of this music was designed for the multi-media performance "La Luce Azzura", a 50 minute piece based on James Baldwin's novel "Sonny's Blues", that featured artwork and slides by visual artist Danijel Zezelj, and premiered in December 1997 in Italy. Luce Azzurra was mixed and produced by Jessica Lurie and William Dowd, in Seattle 1998. Total time: 46:

Other Recordings featuring original compositions/arrangements by Lurie: (CD) Three Sets, featuring Living Daylights LIVE!, Luan Records, 2001, CD, Electric Rosary, Living Daylights, Liquid City Records, 2000 (CD) Sunshine Bundtcake,Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet (BTMSQ) , Horn Hut Records, 2000 (CD) 500 lb. Cat, Living Daylights, Liquid City Records, 1998 (CD) theater of mineral NADEs, Eyvind Kang, TZADIK, 1998 (CD) Pollo d'Oro, BTMSQ and Ne Zhdali, Eighth Day Music 1998 (CD) Frank Pahl in Cahoots, Vaccination Records, 1997 (CD) 7 NADEs , Eyvind Kang, TZADIK, 1996 (CD) BOX, BTMSQ, New World Records, 1996 (CD) Falling Down Laughing, Living Daylights, Imperfect Music/Liquid City Records, 1995, 2000 (CD) Imperfect World , Living Daylights, Imperfect Music, 1994(cassette) make it funky god, BTMSQ, Horn Hut Records, 1994 (CD). Sax House, BTMSQ, Knitting Factory Works, 1992 (CD/cassette).