L-R: Jessica Lurie, Amy Denio, Sue Orfield, & Tina Richardson
Two days after attending a triple bill at the Blue Moon Tavern, Mr. D and I found ourselves at the Royal Room watching the Tiptons Sax Quartet & Drums. It’s not surprising the show in Seattle was sold out. The Tiptons have a strong fanbase. I’m still getting my concert photography rhythm back and I had forgotten about some of the challenges of shooting in small clubs. In particular at the Royal Room there is a piano on stage that doesn’t move and takes up a lot of space. There is also limited floor space in front of the stage sometimes. Always in my attempt to be respectful to the crowd, I usually end up on the floor if they are sitting the entire performance. Saturday night I spent a lot of time navigating the band's microphones and music stands plus water bottles. This at times netted a series of very odd angles. Can you tell which ones those are? Thank God I’ve been practicing my squats (laugh). The band, as always, was very animated. There is something really fascinating to me about catching the signals musicians make to each other. The Tiptons do this a lot and at some point you realize Tina’s talking to Sue… Jessica to Amy… Tina to Xavier. You get the point.
L-R: Sue Orfield & Xavier Lecouturier
Speaking of, Xavier Lecouturier was the drummer this time around. A new face for me. He was exceptional, even keeping a beat while the band held down his cymbals, and a joy to photograph. I was worried about getting his drumsticks in flight. I managed to grab a few.
L-R: Jessica Lurie, Amy Denio, Sue Orfield, & Xavier Lecouturier
I’m not going to go in depth about the music. I’m gonna leave that for Mr. D to post a review. Other than to say, as always the musicians in Seattle are exceptional and people really should dance more.
