Mark Tipton Jazz Quartet - Jun 27, 2025

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The Mark Tipton Jazz Quartet (MTJQ) performs material ranging from original compositions to jazz arrangements of folk music to jazz standards. Mark is from Maine, Kai hails from North Carolina, Ben is from Illinois, and Paul hails from Haiti. They met at the New England Conservatory (NEC) in Boston, and have played many styles of music together, including New Orleans jazz, progressive jazz, R&B, global folk styles, and experimental music, in locations ranging from North Carolina to Maine.

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Mark Tipton

Trumpeter/Composer/Educator Mark Tipton is a Maine native who has lived and worked in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston. He is currently the Lead Instructor for Jazz and Contemporary Musical Arts at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick (MA), and a Doctoral Fellow at the New England Conservatory of Music. He has studied privately with Jason Palmer, Jerry Bergonzi, John McNeil, Billy Hart, Joe Morris, and Ken Schaphorst, and has recently performed and/or recorded with Dave Holland, Ran Blake, Michael Formanek, Jason Moran, Anna Webber, Don Byron, Seulah Noh, and Tom Varner. His works include jazz compositions, contemporary chamber works, multi-disciplinary installations, and silent film scores, (including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, The General, Metropolis, Sunrise, The Passion of Joan of Arc, and others). This summer he will be touring Turkey, Cyprus, and Europe with Grammy-nominated jazz pianist/composer Mehmet Sanlikol. His new album of original compositions for instrumental octet and vocalists, Vernacular Stretch, will be released this Spring.

Kai Lance

Kai Lance is a guitarist, composer, and teacher with a deep love for the jazz tradition, American roots, and groove music. Kai grew up in rural North Carolina, where he got the opportunity to be immersed in a very rich & diverse music community from a young age, playing at venues such as Bond Brothers Eastside, Sharp 9 Gallery, and Shakori Hills. Kai is currently a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he has studied with Nasheet Waits, Frank Carlberg, and Jerry Bergonzi, among others. Kai can be found playing around the northeast, with his own groups as well as the Mark Tipton Quartet, Bruno Bruni, and others.

Paul July Joseph

Drummer Paul July Joseph is from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and is currently studying Contemporary Musical Arts at the New England Conservatory of Music. He recently won a major award from the Percussive Arts Society, and has competed in Drumfest, Le Batteur, and Drum-Off Global. He has worked with Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop, has performed at the Panama Jazz Festival, and recently joined Akili Jamal Haynes and World of Chibuzo for a performance at Carnegie Hall, sponsored by the United Nations. His drum teachers have included Prosper Prevoit, Austin MacMahon, and Obed Calvaire. Paul is currently working on a project, Creole Jazz Fusion, which blends Haitian folk styles such as Yanvalou, Congo, Ibo, Kompa, and Zouk with jazz. Paul July Joseph plays with several ensembles in Boston, including a gospel ensemble, Anthony Coleman’s Early Jazz Ensemble at NEC, and the Mark Tipton Quartet.

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Ben Friedland, a Chicago native, is an avid upright and electric bassist currently based in Boston. His primary training, performance history, and teaching experience lies in jazz and classical, though he is also exceptionally well versed in folk, pop, and rock. Ben has performed across the country at notable venues such as Symphony Center Chicago, The Jazz Showcase, The Chicago Theater, Severance Hall, Maltz Performing Arts Center, Night Town, Brother’s Lounge, The Bop Stop, Roulette Intermedium, The New England Aquarium, Dewey’s Jazz Lounge, and Jordan Hall.

In 2023, Ben earned a Masters in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music studying under Cecil McBee, Brian Levy, Jerry Bergonzi, and John Lockwood. He received his undergraduate degree in Classical Performance at The Cleveland Institute of Music in 2020 studying under Derek Zadinsky, Assistant Principal Bassist for the Cleveland Orchestra.

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