Global Jazz Forum: Tia Fuller and Ben Street
Grammy-nominated artist and accomplished educator Tia Fuller
Image courtesy of the artist
In-demand jazz bassist Ben Street
Image courtesy by Oliver Abels
Two of jazz’s most impressive proponents, grammy-nominated saxophonist Tia Fuller and bassist Ben Street, come together to share their experience in their respective musical journeys with students in this forum.
Grammy-nominated artist and accomplished educator Tia Fuller has been the featured saxophonist with pop diva Beyoncé, featured on the I Am…Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé Experience, and Live at the Wynn Theatre worldwide tours (2006–2010). In addition, she served as assistant musical director for Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music Society tour and performed with Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project and Money Jungle tours.
Fuller has recorded five albums: Healing Space, Decisive Steps, Angelic Warrior, Pillar of Strength, and Diamond Cut, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Her quartet has performed at festivals all over the world, including in Panama, the Netherlands, Italy, Angola, and South Africa.
Fuller has been featured on the cover of DownBeat and JazzTimes, and in a national J.Jill campaign celebrating dynamic women in the arts. An opinion piece she wrote for NBC News, “2019 Grammy Awards: Why I’m Using My Nomination to Speak out in the World of Jazz,” has drawn widespread acclaim. She has received numerous awards and marks of distinction, winning the JazzTimes Critics’ Poll for best alto saxophonist (2018) and the DownBeat International Critics’ Poll Rising Star Award (2013 and 2014). She received the Benny Golson Award from Howard University in 2018.
A devoted educator, Fuller directs Berklee’s Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, and Micki Miller ensembles. While balancing the worlds of education and performance, she is instrumental in facilitating master classes, clinics, and lectures worldwide. Fuller holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Spelman College (magna cum laude) and master’s degree in music from the University of Colorado, Boulder (summa cum laude).
Ben Street is an in-demand bassist who has worked extensively with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Danilo Pérez, Billy Hart, Lage Lund, and David Sanchez, among others. This year, Street appeared (with Hart) on Aaron Parks’s Find the Way, which follows up his work in 2016 on the Andrew Cyrille Quartet’s The Declaration of Musical Independence, on which Street worked with Cyrille, Bill Frisell ’77 ’17H, and Richard Teitelbaum. Street studied with Miroslav Vitous, the renowned Weather Report bassist, and Dave Holland in Boston before moving to New York City in 1991. He is a guest artist with the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.
The Berklee Global Jazz Institute is an honors performance program designed to foster creativity and musicianship through various musical disciplines, with pianist and composer Danilo Pérez as its artistic director. The BGJI provides a comprehensive contemporary music environment where students are given opportunities to explore their creativity to the highest level possible, advance the power of music as a tool for the betterment of society, and connect musical/creative thinking with the natural environment.