Posted September 2022
Boomerocity is a huge fan of saxophone music and the players who play it. Early on, interviews with greats like the late, great Bobby Keys of the Rolling Stones and Mark Rivera with the Billy Joel band and Ringo’s All Starr Band had taken place.
It’s always exciting to be made aware of talent that the rest of the world hasn’t quite discovered, yet . . . at least, not in huge numbers. Then, when everyone else catches on, we get to smile and say, “Yeah, but we knew them back when . . .”
Such is the case with sax virtuoso, Vanessa Collier. She writes. She plays (both solo and with others like blues great, Joe Louis Walker). She records. She teaches. All of this is resulting in a solid, stable upward trajectory in her musical career. Her skills as a songwriter, musician, and performer show maturity and depth well beyond her youth.
A seven-time Blues Music Award nominee, she recently won “Contemporary Blues Female Artists of the Year” at Memphis’ 2022 Blues Music Awards. This is in addition to her prior Blues Music Award wins – two for “Horn Player of the Year” in 2019 and 2020 and her nomination for 2022 Blues Blast Award in the “Horn Player of the Year” category.
This interview with Vanessa is a fun one to watch and listen to. Share it with your friends – especially those who love and/or play blues or the sax. She will endear herself to them as well as inspire them.
Follow Vanessa on her website, here, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
The Boomerocity Interview With Vanessa Collier