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06/07/2023

PSU Jazz Concert featuring Camille Thurman / June 6, 2023

By MICHAEL "SHOEHORN" CONLEY // Saxophonist Camille Thurman and the PSU Big Band Jazz Concert at Lincoln Hall June 5, 2023. Thurman has her own sound and has absorbed a number of the protean influences in the tenor sax pantheon.
It's interesting and impressive how Thurman totally inhabits the Jazz voice thing. She had no difficulty projecting with the big band but also exhibited an intimate vocal aspect in a poignant duet with Colligan’s piano on a Buster Williams song that she wrote lyrics for.

Camille Thurman and the PSU Big Band
Jazz Concert at Lincoln Hall June 5, 2023

The first half of the concert featured the PSU Big Band under the direction of George Colligan. The band has some new soloists since last year, including Owen Evans on alto sax, a tenor player whose name I did not catch, some really good drummers, and Tico, a trombone player with a big sound and a happy demeanor.

The standout of the PSU bunch has to be Sam McGehee, who sounds like he's wearing an orange velour suit with satin lapels, with a matching hat and patent leather shoes. He’s that clean. Here he sang his own big band arrangement of Soul Eyes by Mal Waldron. I really enjoyed his version of this wonderful ballad.

The last few numbers by the big band had them backing up guest soloist Camille Thurman.

The band immediately responded to her delightful vocalizing on “The More I See You”, Thurman charging straight out of the gate with great feeling, phrasing, high notes, energy, tone, and beautiful intonation. Level up.

The second set featured Thurman in a quartet with Professor Colligan on piano, local stalwart and PSU adjunct Christopher Brown on the drums, and New Yorker Jennifer Vincent on the bass. As one would expect, this rhythm crew handled the variety of grooves with aplomb, and contributed tasty solos.

At one point I was trying to figure out who Thurman sounds like on tenor, and I thought of Joe Henderson– it so happened that she was playing Joe Henderson's song “Serenity” at that moment. I think she has her own sound and has absorbed a number of the protean influences in the tenor sax pantheon.
It's interesting and impressive how Thurman totally inhabits the jazz voice thing. She had no difficulty projecting with the big band but also exhibited an intimate vocal aspect in a poignant duet with Colligan’s piano on a Buster Williams song that she wrote lyrics for.

I have an observation about the horn-like expression she achieves with her voice, and I don't mean what they used to say about Ella Fitzgerald phrasing like a horn player. I mean her control of the air direction, dynamics, timbres, and the shaping and voicing of the notes really seems informed by her abilities as a saxophonist.

Thurman took us out “with a bang”, in her own words, scatting fast, nimble syllables on Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo”, and the band got to blow as well. It was a treat to hear the guest artists performing in our town alongside our student and resident musicians– a good show on a Monday night in Portland!

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