Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
With an astonishing 21 albums recorded under her own name as a leader since 2007, pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton is bringing her anything-goes program to Texas this week, with shows in Austin, San Antonio and Houston.
“I don’t make a set list ahead of time,” Fulton said by phone while on the road between Houston and Austin. “I just like to call the tunes, depending on sort of the mood and the vibe of the room.”
The spontaneous sets keep her engaged with the audience, Fulton explained, and her place on the piano bench “is kind of like the captain’s seat,” Fulton said.
“You’re very much in charge.”
A native of Oklahoma, Fulton grew up in a musical family, and chose her path as a jazz musician early, at age eight, and spent a few early years in the Houston area, where some cousins and other family members still live. Nowadays her address is in New York City with its “vibrant” jazz scene, as she said, but mostly, Fulton said she lives out of her suitcase, as a touring musician.
“This is my third or fourth time to come down [to Austin and San Antonio],” Fulton said, but her first time at Doc’s in Houston.
“I really love working with Doc and his team. … I’m always asking him, ‘when are you going to [open a club in] Oklahoma City?’ I think what he’s doing is wonderful.”
Fulton is bringing the talented Swedish saxophonist Klas Lindquist for her Texas tour. Lindquist also doubles on clarinet, which brings a warm, woody sound to the ensemble.
“You hardly ever hear the clarinet anymore. And I really thought that was something special and unique,” Fulton said.
You can catch Champian Fulton live in Austin on Monday night at Parker Jazz Club, in San Antonio on Tuesday at Jazz, TX, or on Wednesday at Doc’s Jazz Club in Houston.
Follow along her musical journey online at https://www.champian.net/ or on Instagram @champianfulton.
