MUCH has been made of Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 2013's brochure cover star, Tia Fuller's connections to Beyoncé.
The saxophonist's five years spent touring with the former Destiny's Child superstar is a marketing angle definitely worth exploring.
But while there were one or two elements in Friday's concert that might have reflected a more pop-based sensibility – notably the pre-recorded fanfare and voice over introduction and a keenness to involve the audience – it was very much a concert that stemmed from Fuller's upbringing in a jazz-playing family and her commitment to the jazz tradition.
As she referenced jazz coordinates from the 1930s, in an initially alto-piano duet of I Can't Get Started, through the loose-limbed hard bop style of her opening number and into the Fender Rhodes-driven groove of Tailor Made, Fuller showed herself to be a capable player on both soprano and alto saxophones.
Her voice, bass and drums interpretation of two Cole Porter songs So in Love and All of You as a medley came over as more of a work in progress but Descend to Barbados, with its sunny, dancing quality, highlighted a compositional flair that she shares with her older sister, the quartet's pianist, Shamie Royston.
With its dramatic piano introduction, Royston's Wind Soar was a highlight of the second set and she's also a significant asset as an improviser.
Her solos showed a real talent for spontaneous construction and development of ideas, with a variety of pacing and sure judgement of tension building and release, and the way she integrated with the bass and drums team ensured that Fuller always had strong accompaniment.
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