"Imagine if Sarah Vaughan played saxophone like Dexter Gordon. That's approximately the effect when singer and tenor saxophonist Camille Thurman performs." — Downbeat Magazine
"You're hard-pressed to find rising talents more exciting than Camille Thurman." — The New York Times
Thurman made history, becoming the first woman in thirty years to tour, record, and perform full-time internationally with the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as a saxophonist/woodwind doubler (2018-2020 season). A respected bandleader, she has headlined numerous notable concert venues and jazz festivals worldwide, including the Kennedy Center, The Library of Congress, and the Rose Theater. It is a pleasure and honor to have her join the RJO for these two concerts.
She grew up in a family of educators in St. Albans New York and started singing at the age of four. She remembers her mother typing away on her dissertation, a study of the history of jazz and how stories are told through music. "My earliest memories are of mom playing Ella (Fitzgerald) and Louis (Armstrong) on the stereo while she typed out research papers." She chose to study the saxophone and committed 100% in her sax studies. It was colleagues of her at a Jazz in July program who heard her singing in the shower that gathered around to find out who was singing. They persuaded her to add voice studies to her curriculum.
Women have been playing jazz since its inception. Pianist Lil Hardin shaped Louis Armstrong's career. She played in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band which Armstrong joined in 1922. They began a romance and got married and it was her that encouraged Armstrong to begin a solo career. There have been notable women jazz musicians through the decades from Mary Lou Williams to Marian McPartland to composer/arranger Maria Schneider. However, to this day, it is predominantly a male institution and most glaringly among jazz orchestras. The RJO has received several comments/questions why there are no women in the orchestra. In fact, I heard the same comment at a big band concert I was attending in San Francisco, one of the most diverse cities in the country. I have been a performing musician for over fifty years and have not witnessed discrimination in the many groups/orchestras I have performed with. Having said that it is a challenge all of jazz needs to address. Following is a Camille Thurman interview excerpt from Downbeat magazine illustrating her challenges in the jazz culture.
When you attended New York's LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, I
understand you encountered some sexism in the jazz band.
When I first got there, I had an incredible teacher, Bob Stewart, who made all the
students want to learn about jazz. Everybody was there to play. When he left, though, in
my junior year, things got a little interesting. This was sexism, and waaaay before "Me-
Too." It wasn't sexual harassment; it was sexual discrimination. … Then, if there was
improvisation, some of the guys would laugh at us if we were trying to figure out the
changes and making mistakes. It would be like, "Oh, she's terrible. Oh, she sucks." It was
hard. We weren't learning because of it. … I graduated not wanting to have anything to
do with playing music. It discouraged me, broke my spirit.
… She attended Hunter
College for a year, then transferred to SUNY Binghamton, from which she eventually
graduated with a degree in geology. It was a jazz band leader at Binghamton who
encouraged her to get back into jazz.
You broke a significant glass ceiling when you joined the JLCO. What did it mean to
you as a woman and as a musician to be invited to join?
It meant so much to me. At my first concert with them, I couldn't help but think about
all the great women — The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Vi Burnside, Vi Redd
— who came before me, who were doing this and were left out of the history books.
Then I felt like it was not just a celebration for me, but for them, too. But what was
really humbling was hearing from young women, educators, from older women — and
from men, too — that just seeing a woman up there spoke so profoundly to them.
Especially for the young girls. For them it was, like, "Wow — I could see myself up there
— that's a possibility."
The RJO is committed to fostering the love of jazz in everyone. We have a robust jazz education program for middle and high school students with more and more girls participating. The Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra includes several girls on their roster. The RJO education director, Nichole Heglund, has instituted a local all women jazz orchestra "Sapphire" which the RJO supports by providing a free rehearsal space.
Attend one of our concerts featuring Camille Thurman and experience her talents as they "break the glass ceiling".
Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra w/ Wynton Marsalis Feat. Camille Thurman
Emmet Cohen w/ Camille Thurman | The Nearness of You