A CONVERSATION WITH... CAMILLA GEORGE
At SXSW, we sat down with one of London’s most passionate saxophonists, Camilla George, to talk about her past, present, and future in jazz.
WHEN DID YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH MUSIC?
Camilla George on stage (credit to Camilla George on Instagram)
That's a really hard one. Music's always been a part of my family. My dad had a great vinyl collection, and I used to sit with him and he introduced me to the likes of Sunny Stewart and Sidney Bishop.
Both my parents were so supportive of me getting into music. My dad grew up with a dad who was a saxophone player and had a slightly, let's say, stereotypical jazz musician lifestyle. So he wasn't super supportive of being a jazz musician because of what he thought the jazz musician life was like. To kind of appease him, I did an ancient mediaeval history degree and then moved back to jazz afterwards. So I have friends in and outside of the London jazz scene. And with how small the London scene is, it's nice to have a bit of a break from the scene sometimes.
How would you describe the London jazz scene? The London music scene overall is very competitive and very unique, but how would you describe the London jazz scene?
Competitive, for sure, but also a great place to be. I came through Tomorrow's Warriors, who are quite dominant on the London scene. And there are people coming from the colleges and from outside London, but I guess I'm a bit out of touch with it now. I'm not going, sadly, to the jam sessions as much as I used to. There are so many conservatories in London, so if you are going to those jams, you’re meeting great players. You create your little family, and you don't find it to be as harsh as it could be.
So when people ask who you are, how would you describe yourself?
I'm a saxophone player who's interested in exploring my Nigerian roots and culture. But I'm also very interested in jazz and getting better at it. And I know I'm biased, but I think it's one of the hardest forms of music. Jazz musicians can play anything because of the skills that we need to know. Our knowledge of harmony is probably more in-depth because we have to manipulate harmony in order to improvise. So I'd say that I'd say I'm somebody that's interested in where I've come from and has a love of jazz.
That's truly a wonderful answer. So you're exploring your culture and roots, are there any moments in particular or experiences that you draw on?
Well, I always write within stories. My 2018 album The People Could Fly was based on an American book based on African folktales, which are based on slavery. In this book, the slaves and the slave owners take on the form of animals, so I wrote about different animals. There’s a tune for each story. The latest album that I've done, Ibio-Ibio, it’s about my tribe, my people. I followed my heart with the research rabbit holes, like with Ekpe (the secret society), the Long JuJu shrine of Arochkwu in the village, our creation stories, and our gods Abasi and Atai. We're said to have come from the Anaang, who are the oldest people in that part of Africa. But when we travelled, we split. So some went by river and some went by the land. And so that was one of the tunes, ‘Journey Across The Sea.’ I always like to have a theme with my work.
Going back to 2021, you performed at the Jazz Re:fresh showcase at Abbey Road Studios as a virtual SXSW performance. But now you performed in person at SXSW. What was it like doing both of those? How did you feel about SXSW 2023?
The 2021 performance was great because I was able to do that with a full band, but financially that wasn't possible for 2023. But, SXSW 2023 was amazing! Getting to meet such great audiences and performing at these venues was great. Worth the transatlantic flight and all the stress of it. I didn't expect to be asked to come back since my 2021 performance did so well. But I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least. I got the opportunity to play with a pianist I played with before. I played with China Moses, and she's very good friends with Theo Croker and this particular guy, Mike King, who's an absolute genius on the piano. He very kindly offered to play with me on the Jazz Re:fresh Showcase at Sellers Underground. I think for all of us, it was such a treat to play with somebody of that calibre.