About
Born in the suburbs of New York City, Zachary Lipton began playing the saxophone at age eight. Multifaceted, his childhood consisted of juggling his developing musical talent with interests both academic and athletic. At twelve, Lipton began to play jazz while attending Albert Leonard Middle School in New Rochelle. By his sophomore year of High School he had been selected as first tenor in the All County jazz band and received a perfect score in All-State auditions. Two years later he was selected to play alto saxophone in the debut season of the NY Youth Symphony Jazz Orchestra, through which he shared a stage with Jimmie Heath and also performed with Slide Hampton at Carnegie Hall.
Drawn to mathematics and computer science, Lipton matriculated at Columbia University, seeking a broad academic undergraduate experience while living in a city overflowing with musical opportunities. While an undergraduate, Lipton performed at Smoke, the Knitting Factory, Columbia University, Clark University, gave performances and clinics at high schools, and founded a weekly on-campus jazz performance. During his senior year, he recorded a collection of original compositions on an album entitled First Steps which was praised in a review on All About Jazz as “an engaging introduction, musically genuine and well-conceived.” The same reviewer noted, “Lipton's improvisational approach echoes the swiftness of 1960s-era Wayne Shorter (Flight) and the gracefulness of Dexter Gordon (March 1st, Waltz for Maya).”
After graduating from Columbia with honors in 2007, having completed a major in Mathematics and Economics, health setbacks sidelined Lipton’s career and life, temporarily compromising his sight, coordination and short-term memory. After two years of medical drama that would serve well as a parody of an episode of House, Lipton’s career is again on the rise. He has performed a series of concerts recently at the Underground Lounge in New York City and is at the forefront of the intersection of internet technology and the world of music, developing new ways to share music and the artistic process as well as working in his spare time to develop software to create a richer web-based interaction between artist and audience. Currently, Lipton is preparing to reenter the studio to record a new yet-to-be titled album.
About the Site
I believe strongly in the use of the internet to expose and share many aspects of the artistic process. With this site, I aim to share my music, multimedia projects, my writing, what I'm practicing, and my other diversions, including software projects.
