Like their namesake, the saxophonist and band leader Billy Tipton (only discovered to be biologically female after his death), there is more to The Tiptons than meets the eye. With four sax players and a drummer, the band zigzags across genres from jazz to bluegrass and gospel to Balkan.

So it's no surprise that The Tiptons' shows at the Arcata Playhouse on Jan. 23 and 24 at 8 p.m. won't be strictly musical ($18, $15 students and Playhouse/Redwood Jazz Alliance members). Mythunderstandings blends humorous and heartfelt stories from Coastal Salish storyteller Paul 'Che oke ten' Wagner, grandmothers, a hoarder, a bank employee and an adopted child. All of these tales grapple with the big stuff: love and death, personal and cultural mythology.

— Jennifer Fumiko Cahill