Atlantic City Weekly

Share this Story:

ATLANTIC CITY — Saxophonist Tia Fuller (alto, soprano and flute) hails from North Carolina, but she’s a Jersey girl now.

Having toured with Beyoncé for several years in the pop superstar’s all-woman band, including two stints in Atlantic City, Fuller has moved to the Garden State (not the Empire State) so that she is closer to the hub of the jazz and entertainment world — New York City.

Fuller, who’s latest CD, Decisive Steps (Mack Avenue Records), features contributions by Philly bassist Christian McBride, as well as drummer Kim Thompson, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, Fuller’s sister, pianist Shamie Royston, and others, will return to Atlantic City for a free concert at Kennedy Plaza on the Boardwalk Thursday, Aug. 11.

Part of the Chicken Bone Beach Foundation’s 12th annual Jazz on the Beach series, Fuller’s appearance will feature a quartet/quintet (featuring mainly women). Her set will begin following opener the Budesa Brothers Trio. The entire concert lasts from 7-10pm.

Atlantic City Weekly caught up with Fuller, who, has been featured in Jazz Improv magazine, The Philadelphia Tribune, The Star Ledger and Downbeat magazine, by cell phone. She was driving, but, don’t worry, she was using her speakerphone.

When and how did you start playing music? Was it initially jazz or classical or something else?
I come from a family of musicians. My mom and dad are musicians. I grew up in a house full of jazz. But I initially started playing classical piano when I was about three years old. From there, I went on to flute when I was about nine and I started saxophone when I was about 12 or thirteen.

Do you think starting the piano at three helped you become the musician that you are today?
I think so. [It] did provide a strong foundation for me. It allowed me to be able to read music at an early age and delve into the insights of musicianship, of playing music. So yeah, it definitely had something to do with me becoming a musician.

And you said you were about 12 when you switched to the sax?
Yeah. I started playing in my middle-school band at twelve. And it was shortly before that, my dad started getting me private lessons on the side for saxophone. I knew I wanted to play the saxophone when I was around nine or 10 years old, but it took me a couple of years to get one. ... My grandfather actually gave me [an alto] saxophone that was in his basement.

You switched from piano to flute and then to sax. What about the brass instrument attracted you?
When I first blew into the saxophone, it was a very different experience than I had with the flute. I instantly got a sound and it was a big sound when I played the low b flats. I just felt connected to the instrument. Whereas with the flute, of course with the embouchure and everything, it took a little longer for me to get an acceptable tone. So what initially attracted me to the instrument is that I could play loud. [Laughing]

You said your family was musical. Were there other saxophone players besides your grandfather?
No, actually my grandfather wasn’t a saxophonist, but he’s a bass player and a piano player. And then my father plays bass, my mother sings, and my older sister plays piano. As a result of music being in the family and me being surrounded by it constantly, it was almost a no brainer.

And your sister Shamie plays on your recent album and in your band?
Yeah, Shamie Royston, that’s my sister. And her husband, Ruddy Royston, he’s also playing drums [at the Atlantic City show].

Is it a trio?
No, it’s actually going to be a quartet/ quintet. There’s gonna be two drummers and it’s Ruddy Royston and Shirazett Tinnin. And she’ll be playing, we’ll probably divide the set up with drums and then she’ll also play some cajon. And Mimi Jones will be on bass.

Who are some of the players you listened to while honing your skills? Your musical family probably had music playing a lot, too; who are some of the artists you initially tried to emulate?
Definitely Cannonball Adderly. That was the first solo that I learned, “Alabama Concerto.” John Coltrane also.

Favorite Trane album?
Giant Steps I'd have to say.

Who else?
Sonny Stitt and Charlie Parker, of course. And the more contemporary, of course, Kenny Garrett —  but that wasn’t until later. And Joe Henderson.

Yeah, the late Joe Henderson is one of my favorites too. You also worked with Philadelphia bassist and composer Christian McBride on the last record and then wound up playing a tribute to him for the album too. How did that come about?
I actually was walking around my apartment at the time and I remember listening to “The Shade of the Cedar Tree” and while that was playing, I was humming the melody of [my eventual song] “Shades of McBride.” I was humming that melody over his tune and that little bass break in “Shades of the Cedar Tree” and I was like man, I would love to get Christian McBride on this album! Everything just worked out.

You’re from Colorado. How long have you been in New Jersey?
I’ve been out here since Sept. 9 of 2001 actually.
 
You said September 9, 2001?
Yeah, two days before the World Trade Center tragedy.

What an introduction to the East Coast. Now when did you start playing in Beyoncé’s band?
I started in her band in June 2006.

And how did that come about? Was it just an audition?
Yeah. She basically had a world-wide audition for an all-female band and I went to it. It was actually the same week I was recording my second album, Healing Space, my first from Mack Avenue Records. Basically I went to that audition, open-call, and she had two callbacks and by the end of the two callbacks, I realized that I had made it. They narrowed it down probably to around 6,000 girls and then 10 of us.

Aug. 11 will be your third appearance at the Chicken Bone Beach live jazz series?
Yeah, and I played there once before with Ralph Peterson. That was actually the first time I had ever heard of the Chicken Bone Beach. But that was back in like 2003 or 2004. Usually I just come down for the series. I haven’t really gotten the chance to come down there and relax.

There have obviously been a lot of talented women in jazz over the decades from singers Billie Holiday to Shirley Scott, Mary Lou Williams, and even more recently Candy Dalfer and women such as yourself. Do you think, from your experience, it is harder to be accepted or to become as successful as a man in jazz?
I think we face more challenges than a man. But once you get past the barrier of the superficial thing of you’re a woman that plays an instrument; as long as you can play, the acceptance is there.

Once they hear you blow.
Yeah. I do think there are challenges, but surpassing those initial challenges, you become accepted as a player once people know that you can play. The bottom line is: Can you play or can’t you play? Does your musicianship speak for itself or are you riding off the thing of being a woman? That’s something I always thought to myself. I never want to be a gimmicky woman in jazz. It’s a by-product of what I do, because I am a woman, but I always wanted to be a great musician. ...I like wearing dresses and heels, you know, make-up. It’s funny, because I used to try to blend in when I first moved to New York. I was physically very girly, but I wore slacks and pants, because I wanted to blend in. But now it is very much celebrating being a woman, not hiding or running from it, but embracing it. As for visually, not being restrictive with what I’m wearing as well as musically, embracing that in the music. It’s funny, I just did this lecture at Berkelee School of Music and Terri Lyne Carrington was playing and she’s teaching [up] there, she’s a great drummer. We were just talking about how as women, we musically come from a different place than men. It’s an innate place of being able to nuture and embrace. With men, it’s a different place, not as emotional, although it can be. I’ve just really been exploring that. Being with an all-female group with Beyoncé, going to an all-female college, there has been a seamlessness we experience on stage being with all women. It’s a different energy that generates.

Is there still something specifically that you want to do with your music that you have not yet?
There are a couple different things. One, I would love to play with Prince! We just came from Italy and I got a chance to see him perform. So playing with Prince is one of them and I would also like to play at the Grammy’s with my quartet and hopefully receive one as well [laughing]. That would be nice. I would also like to start up a school, some organization in an urban area where I could provide a service to the community and have like a  performing arts school that specializes in jazz and reaches out to elementary, middle, and high-school aged students. For those students who don’t have the opportunity to be a part of music, because music is being taken out of programs.

Those are definitely all three very great goals. Is there another Beyoncé tour coming up that you’ll be a part of?
Yeah, there is. She’s actually doing it now, they called me for it, but I was actually on tour with my own quartet and I had to find a sub. They just came back from overseas and now they are about to do a New York tour, which is for just a week. None of them I’m able to do because of my own quartet’s schedule. It’s great [working with Beyoncé and her band] but it comes to times where you kind of have to move on. And hopefully I can do some stuff in the future with her, but I’m happy to be in the place that I am now. I’ve gained so much from being in her band and now I’m able to kind of integrate that into what I’m doing with my band.

Tia Fuller
Where: Kennedy Plaza, A.C. Boardwalk
When: Thursday, Aug. 11, 7-10pm
How Much: Free