CAMILLA GEORGE QUARTET

Camilla George is a visionary saxophonist, composer, bandleader and innovator. Her strong cultural roots and love of fusing African and Western Music has informed her own unique style, a key reason why she is a firm fixture on the new London Jazz scene, alongside peers such as Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings.

Her music is a hypnotising blend of Afrofuturism, hip hop and jazz, with a politically minded subtext that has a powerful connection to her Nigerian identity, lineage and heritage, reflecting African history, culture and slavery.

Born in Eket, Nigeria, Camilla has been interested in music from an early age and particularly in the fusion of African and Western music. She grew up listening to Fela Kuti, as well as Jackie McLean and Charlie Parker. She began playing the saxophone aged 11 years old, when she won a music contest where the prize awarded her saxophone lessons. Camilla went on to study with many jazz greats such as Jean Toussaint, Julian Siegal and Martin Speake at Trinity College of Music where she gained a Masters in Jazz Performance, as well as being awarded The Archer Scholarship for Outstanding Performance in 2011.

In 2009 she joined the award-winning band Jazz Jamaica and in 2014 she formed his own project. Dubbed “The Golden Girl of Jazz” by The Evening Standard, Camilla’s debut album ‘Isang’ (meaning ‘journey’ in Ibibio, her native language) received widespread critical acclaim.

Her follow up album, ‘The People Could Fly’ (2018), featuring special guest Omar, as well as in hugely respected guitarist Shirley Tetteh, gained substantial critical acclaim. The album looked at tales that slaves passed onto their children through generations and, whilst full of sorrow, was essentially a story of hope for black people and mankind that we can one day live together in harmony.

Camilla’s band has gigged solidly in several places and jazz festivals. Dee Dee Bridgewater was so impressed with her that she remarked, “The world is safe because we have Camilla!”

As part of the EFG London Jazz festival Camilla’s concert was described by Jazz Journal as “A truly memorable concert…Jazz superstars in the making” with the London Jazz Review speaking of “the mature and imaginative compositions combined with some sublime saxophone solos”.

Camilla has been nominated for an Urban Music Award for Best Jazz artist in 2017 and 2018 and nominated for a Jazz FM award for Best Instrumentalist 2019 and reached the final in the DC Jazz Prix in 2021. Most recently, she was awarded the PRS Foundation Momentum Award and released her third studio album, ‘Ibio Ibio’.

From: https://www.camillageorge.com