GRAMMY-NOMINATED SAXOPHONIST TIA FULLER IS ON A GROUNDBREAKING JOURNEY

Tia Fuller is an Aurora, Colorado native. She was raised surrounded by musicians; her mom is a singer, her dad is a professional bass player, her brother is a drummer, and her sister is a pianist. So musical genes clearly run in the family. Tia Fuller was interested in music from a young age, but that interest grew into a huge passion for the arts. She attended Spelman College and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music.

However, her drive to learn and perfect her craft did not stop there; she later went on to graduate summa cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance. She has since gone on to make a path for others to follow in her footsteps. As a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Tia Fuller has made it known that music education and women empowerment are at the forefront of her mission. She hopes to keep women in jazz and make sure that tradition does not die. To complete her mission, she has created an Instagram Live series called “Talk to Tia,” an online saxophone master class with Jeff Coffin and Kirk Whalum, and a new album entitled Diamond Cut, which is her fifth album and was nominated for Grammy. One of her latest accomplishments was being cast for the Pixar movie Soul as the music of animated character “Dorothea Williams.”

In the movie Soul, Dorothea Williams is a bold and sassy female saxophonist played by Angela Bassett. Although, her saxophone performances were played by the remarkable Tia Fuller, who brought the character, Dorothea Williams, to life. When Dorthea Williams took the stage, it was sure to be a show; she exuded such confidence and grace when she performed that it was truly breathtaking to watch. Her solo performances were authentic and pleasing to the ear, and she always found a way to shine in the group numbers. The Jazz music they created in Soul was definitely filled with a lot of heart and soul. Tia Fuller did an outstanding job in this Pixar movie. Be sure to check out Tia Fuller's performances as Dorothea Williams in Soul, which is available to watch on Disney+, Netflix, and HBO.