
The Tiptons
Wabi Sabi
Self-released

Impermanence, imperfection, and incompleteness are qualities captured by the elusive Japanese aesthetic concept of “wabi-sabi.” Recording since 1988, the Tiptons Saxophone Quartet has, over the years, been anything but ephemeral. Though well-rehearsed, their latest release embraces the roughhewn and raucous, delivering far cries and funky breakdowns within polished arrangements.
Kudos to drummer Robert Kainar, who keeps the heat on under the concoctions of saxophonists Amy Denio, Jessica Lurie, Sue Orfield, and Tina Richerson, from the mardis gras blowout of “Jouissance” to the boom-slap drive of “Working Song.” The quartet’s thick, interlocking melodies are nothing accidental; like the house band of an infernal carnival, the five bring Balkan vibes to minor marches such as “Root Dance” and fiercely testifying solos to the steady snap of “Memory Bait.”
Each knows their part, and through their collaboration and communication, the Tiptons’ are positively upbeat. On “El Gran Orinador,” they slap on a lurching salsa, Richerson’s baritone bass lines playing off the soulful vibrato of the latter. Their solid and confident reed technique, reminiscent of the Latin American brass tradition, weightlessly holds up this kind of arrangement, audible as well on the swelling drift of the slower, almost neo-classical “Torqueing of the Spheres.”
The ensemble’s use of sung voice also stands out, pulling in and out of the instrumental texture. It really pops in an all-voice break at the second part of the high tempo shuffle, “Moadl Joadl,” where the inventive use of yodeling and other vocal techniques, along with hocketing claps, infectiously matches the group’s rhythmic eclecticism.
As if a ghostly parade suddenly appeared tramping through the streets and alleys of the city, the melodies of Wabi Sabi summon a grandiose fanfare of the everyday. It’s a blustery march: cheerful, mournful, graceful, full of wild cries and incantations, but exuberant, ample, and even by beauty, unresolved.–Ian Gwin
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