Biography

Member of Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame Amy Denio composes for modern dance, film, theater and TV. She has a four-octave vocal range and plays guitar, bass, alto sax, clarinet and accordion. She has written more than 400 works and has produced over 50 recordings solo and in collaboration with artists worldwide. She operates her own recording studio, record label and publishing company, Spoot Music. She has won many awards and artistic fellowships for her prodigious output.

Her song cycle for chamber Orchestra 'Truth Is Up For Grabs' is composed for 21 instruments, and is created in collaboration with video artist James Drage. The first iteration in 2017 was supported by 4Culture in Seattle. In October, 2019 she presented the expanded and complete production at the Chapel Performance Space in Seattle, which was funded in part by Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture. She is producing short films from this work.

Other recent chamber works include a commission from Seattle Theater Group to compose a sound track for silent film 'Variete' (Dupont, 1925) which was premiered at the Paramount Theater in February 2019. She was also commissioned by Kino Lorber to score and performing/producing the sound track for 'A Daughter of the Law' (Cunard, 1921) which is included in their 'Women Pioneers of Cinema' DVD boxed set.

She has also created several multi-media works in collaboration with her internationally recognized group, the all-women Tiptons Saxophone Quartet. Shop of Wild Dreams was produced in collaboration with Croatian painter Daniel Zezelj and film maker Aric Mayer, and 'Mythunderstandings' involved Saanich Tribe story teller and musician Paul 'Che-oke-ten' Wagner and film maker Adam Sekuler

She scored 'The Naked Proof' (Hook, 2003), which premiered at SIFF, as well as several stop-motion animated films by Thomas Edward. She also makes short documentary films.

She's received the New York City Bessie Award for her soundtrack to David Dorfman Dance's piece 'Sky Down', many grants for projects from 4Culture, Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Seattle Mayor's Award. She's been awarded fellowships at Civitella Ranieri in Italy and from Artist Trust to live in Ireland.

Denio has played concerts and taught musical workshops in festivals, clubs, squats, prisons, churches, sanctuaries, and subways on 6 continents ~ solo and with historic American rock trio Tone Dogs, her all-women sax quartet The Tiptons, Balkan group Kultur Shock, and many other international projects. Her compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and from the top of Metro buses in Seattle.

- IMDb mini biography by: Amy Denio