Tia Fuller brings it all to the table. As a composer, bandleader, teacher and touring member of Beyoncé’s all-female band, the Colorado-born saxophonist wears many hats. Drawing on her experiences growing up in a musical household, Fuller shared the stage for the first time in a revamped quartet with her sister and pianist Shamie Royston, bassist Mimi Jones and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Feel free to take a walk down the gender road if you like, but you’ll have to do it alone. I’d rather step off that beaten way and just listen, for in the swelter of the moment their bodies were catalysts for a spontaneity blind to such things. For this kickoff to the Cornell Concert Series 2012-13 season, Fuller and company wore this energy like a smile: that is to say, beamingly.
Original Author: Tyran Grillo