Jessica Lurie is an American composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, performance artist and woodwind player, originally hailing from Seattle and now living in Brooklyn, New York.

Lurie's first gained notice as a member of The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet

The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet

The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet is an all-female, jazz saxophone quartet from Seattle, Washington. They actually consist of five members...

, an all-female horn ensemble who released its first album in 1993. In 1995, she also had a first release with the group Living Daylights

Living Daylights

Living Daylights is a jazz trio from Seattle composed of Jessica Lurie , Arne Livingston , and Dale Fanning...

, which performs jazz-jamband music. She has also performed as the leader of the Jessica Lurie Ensemble since 2002.

Jessica has performed, toured or recorded with international artists such as Bill Frisell, The Indigo Girls, Vinicio Caposella, Mark Ribot, Marty Erhlich, Wayne Horvitz, Sleater Kinney, Circus Amok, Les Claypool, Nels Cline, Mike Clark, Great Small Works among others.  Lurie started her music label Zipa!Music in 2000.

She is preparing a new CD release in Fall, 2011, featuring Todd Sickafoose, Erik Deutsch, Allison Miller and Brandon Seabrook.

Jessica's touring groups include jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and alternative music artists. Her current New York line-up features Todd Sickafoose

Todd Sickafoose

Todd Sickafoose is an American jazz and rock bassist originally from the San Francisco Bay Area who now lives in Brooklyn, New York.He is best known for playing bass with Ani DiFranco, but he has also led his own group called, "Todd Sickafoose's Blood Orange".Sickafoose has been a member of the...

 on acoustic bass (best known for his work with Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...

), Allison Miller

Allison Miller (drummer)

Allison Miller is a New York City-based drummer, singer, and composer.Miller has performed with songwriting vocalists Ani DiFranco, Natalie Merchant, and Erin McKeown, and toured with avant-garde saxophonist Marty Ehrlich and organist Doctor Lonnie Smith....

 on drums (Natalie Merchant

Natalie Merchant

Natalie Anne Merchant is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She joined the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and left it to begin her solo career in 1993.-Early life:...

) and Erik Deutsch on keyboard. Other regular guests include Scott Amendola

Scott Amendola

Scott Amendola is an American jazz drummer from the San Francisco Bay Area. His styles include jazz, blues, groove, rock and new music. He is considered central to the Bay Area music scene....

 (drums, Madeline Peyroux), Jon Evans

Jon Evans

Jon Evans is a Canadian novelist and journalist.Born to an expatriate Rhodesian father and Canadian mother, he grew up in Waterloo, Ontario, and is a graduate of the University of Waterloo....

 (bass, Tori Amos

Tori Amos

Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...

), Nels Cline

Nels Cline

Nels Cline is an American guitarist and composer, currently the lead guitarist of alternative rock band Wilco. David Carr of the New York Times describes Cline as "one of the best guitarists in any genre."-Career:...

 (guitar, Wilco

Wilco

Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John...

) and Julie Wolf (piano, Ani diFranco) as well as Italian musicians Zeno de Rossi (drums), Danilo Gallo (bass) and Giorgio Pacorig (piano).

Discography

• Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet: Saxhouse (1993 Spoot & Zipa Music)
• Living Daylights
  Living Daylights
  Living Daylights is a jazz trio from Seattle composed of Jessica Lurie , Arne Livingston , and Dale Fanning...
  
  : "Falling Down Laughing" (1995 Liquid City)
• BTMSQ: Box (1996 New World Records)
• Eyvind Kang: NADEs (1996 Tzadik)
• The Posies: Amazing Disgrace (1996 Geffen Records)
• BTMSQ & Ne Zhdali: Pollo d'Oro (1997 No Man's Land)
• Living Daylights: 500 Pound Cat (1998 Liquid City)
• BTMSQ: Sunshine Bundtcake (2000 New World Records)
• Jessica Lurie: Motorbison Serenade (2000 Zipa Music)
• Living Daylights: Electric Rosary (2000 Liquid City)
• Eyvind Kang: Story of Iceland (2000 Tzadik)
• Billies: Short Cuts (2003 Spoot & Zipa)
• Jessica Lurie Ensemble: !Zipa Buka! (2003 Zipa Music)
• Living Daylights: Night of the Living Daylights (2004 Living Daylights)
• Tiptons: Tsunami (2004 No Man's Land/Spoot & Zipa)
• Tiptons: Surrounded by Horns (2004 Stockfisch)
• Jessica Lurie and Andrew Drury Duo: This is what its like to be (2005 Zipa Music)
• Tiptons: Drive (2005 Spoot & Zipa)
• Jessica Lurie: Licorice and Smoke (2006 Zipa Music )
• The Tiptons Sax Quartet: Laws Of Motion (2008 Spoot & Zipa)
• Jessica Lurie Ensemble: Shop of Wild Dreams (2009 Zipa Music )

External links

• Official site
• Jessica Lurie Ensemble collection at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  's live music archive