Ep 087 – Camille Thurman

Multi-instrumentalist, Vocalist, Composer Camille Thurman is the first woman in 30 years to tour and perform full time two seasons as a saxophonist with the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for 2 seasons.

Camille has shared stages with such jazz and R&B luminaries as George Coleman, Roy Haynes, Dianne Reeves, Wynton Marsalis, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JALCO) featuring Wynton Marsalis, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, Charles Tolliver, Jack DeJohnette, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jon Hendricks, Harry Connick Jr., Jon Batiste, Audra MacDonald, Diana Krall, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Louis Hayes, Russell Malone, Nicholas Payton, Jacky Terrasson, Janelle Monáe, Alicia Keys, Lalah Hathaway, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, among others.

Camille has been runner up in the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, two-time winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award and a winner of the Fulbright Scholars Cultural Ambassador Grant, The Chamber Music of America Performance Plus Grant (Sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation) and the Jazz Coalition Composers Grant among others. Thurman also has four full-length recordings as a leader to her credit.

She is endorsed by D’Addario Woodwinds & Co. for reeds, Conn-Selmer Inc. for saxophones and Key Leaves saxophone products.

In this interview, we talked about:

How to approach a standard to make it your own
How Camille used networking to become a 1st-call musician in NYC
What Camille thinks about when improvising
The influence of mentors, like Tia Fuller, Antoine Roney, Terri Lynne Carrington
Camille’s funny story about how she switched from alto to tenor sax
Tips for developing your tone
And so much more!

“When it comes to jazz, it’s about function.” Camille Thurman

You can watch the video of this interview here: