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Vanessa Collier

By: Lori Smerilson Carson
Photos: Remo Nehuas & Jeff Fasano Photography

As we enter the month of love, it’s easy to focus on artists who pour themselves into their music with passion and conviction. Saxophonist/Singer/Songwriter Vanessa Collier definitely exemplifies these qualities in her music and displays them on her latest album, her sixth release Do It My Own Way. These songs show not only her incredible talent, but how affectionate she is with her songwriting.

Collier has received many accolades since her 2014 debut album HEART SOUL & SAXOPHONE, which consist of twelve Blues Music Awards nominations and four wins. In 2019 she won BMA’s Horn Player of the Year, and repeated in 2020 and 2024. In 2022, she won Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year.

Now, she is on tour with her latest tunes, as well as fan favorites, and will bring her show to The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton on February 14th, and the Vero Beach Blues Festival in Vero Beach on February 15th.

Catching up with Collier just prior to her tour, she revealed some details about the show and her new album, as well as a bit about her past inspirations, and what fans can look forward to.

SFL Music Magazine: You will be at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton and the Vero Beach Blues Festival. What can fans look forward to with the new show?

Vanessa Collier: Well, I’m playing a bunch of stuff off the new record which is always fun. So, if you’ve come to see us before, there’s some fresh new material that just has new breath and it breathes new life into the set, kind of thing. Of course, the fan favorites, we always play those. Always a high energy show, lots of saxophone, so just be prepared for that (she laughed).

SFL Music Magazine: What are you looking forward to coming back to The Funky Biscuit and South Florida?

Collier: It’s always one of those gigs that I show up and the crowd is always amazing! So, it sticks out always as being just a really fun show to come back to and lots of people that come back to see us. I’m hopeful this next time will be the same.

SFL Music Magazine: You mentioned your new album, your sixth release Do It My Own Way. I read that this one was recorded with analog gear with the musicians all in the same room. What inspired that? What inspired the album?

Collier: I’ve been kind of slowly making a name for myself in the blues world, but I also have roots like Aretha (Franklin) and Etta James, R&B and soul music. The stuff that I heard in my head was more in that vein and more inspired by the Memphis horn sound, and just older school kind of stuff. So, that was really my intention. Sitting down and writing the record was like, let’s write a little something that’s more in that vein. So, it kind of spans the funk, soul and older school R&B kind of stuff.

SFL Music Magazine: The first single released is “Take Me Back”. It sort of has that Memphis blues, a little rockish sound with your strong vocals, and I love the horn solo as well. Your song “Wild as a Rainstorm” is out now. You wrote it for people that feel left out and for your little sisters? Would you please explain what inspired that?

Collier: Sure. I have three younger sisters and there’s a wide age gap between us, so I’ve kind of gotten to watch them grow up and go through the same things that I went through, but I see it through a different lense. I remember for me, I was very introverted, very quiet. Just different than a lot of people. I thankfully have a mom who is built kind of the same, so she always talked to me as if it’s a strength to be all these things. To feel so much, to be very emotional and also to be kind of a quiet person in a room rather than having to be the center of attention or talking. So, watching my sisters grow up and go through a lot of the same things I went through of just doubting yourself. Doubting your place in the world. All of that, and this is sort of a song about, it’s partly from my own eyes. This is what I’ve gone through. I’ve been where you are, and just being true to who you are is the most beautiful thing, and the best thing you can do for yourself. It’s sort of like me talking to my little sisters, talking to the next generation of just, be wild as a rainstorm. Be free and daring, and just be you and the world will come and meet you.

SFL Music Magazine: Speaking of your mom, your song “Warrior”, I read it’s about powerful women and you wrote it in honor of her. How did that come about?

Collier: I really wanted the song to, I don’t know, encourage people to look at their own lives and look at the small injustices that happen right in front of you. My mom is a college professor and had spent time at a university as a professor, and was due for tenure and had met all the criteria under which she was hired. Basically, because of gender discrimination and unfair raising of standards, numerous legal claims, she was denied that job. Then, she could’ve moved on. She could’ve just left and let the corruption and all of that stay there, but my mom is a very strong person and it really bothers her to her core when there’s any injustice, and so she has to speak up. So, what that has meant for our family is that, it’s been five years of upheaval and devastation at the hands of this university. So this is me documenting, me watching my mom go through this thing. She’s a strong single mother of four girls, and just how devastating it’s been for her, but also just a reminder that there were many people along the way that could have said something. That could have stood up. That said it was wrong in private, but were unwilling to go on the record, kind of thing. So, it’s just that reminder of here’s this strong person, but we also need people to stand up and defend this just because it’s morally right to do so.

SFL Music Magazine: Another strong person, your song “Rosetta” was a tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. What inspired that?

Collier: I feel like she’s undervalued. Thankfully, she’s gotten her due in the
last few years, but I think if you study her story a lot, you find out she was selling out baseball stadiums in a time when women didn’t do it, let alone black women of touring and being the top grossing artist and all if these things. She basically was in an unmarked grave up until 2013, 2014. Somewhere in there, in Philadelphia, and a lot of people don’t talk about her. They talk about Chuck Berry and they talk about the roots of rock and roll, and they kind of skip over her. When I found out about her, I was like, oh my gosh, she’s amazing! She’s not only an incredible vocalist, but she’s created a whole entire new way of playing the guitar which inspired Elvis (Presley) and inspired Chuck Berry. So, we wouldn’t have the music from them unless we had her. So, a lot of the song is just about loving a strong women who did it her own way. She created her own path and refused to be held down by anything, and creating a whole new style in the process.

SFL Music Magazine: That is very inspirational!

Collier: Totally! Yeah.

SFL Music Magazine: You also have Organist Rev. Charles Hodges on the new album. How did that come together?

Collier: Well, I actually met him, he put some organ on my second record. I made my second record with a record label in Memphis and they brought him in to do the keys parts. It was just kind of a fast friendship. He’s such a beautiful human. It’s him on all the Hi Records stuff. All the Al Green stuff. He has a particular approach and a sound, and when I thought about this record, I really thought he would do such a great job, and that’s what he did (she laughed). We went in for basically two days of like three hour sessions if that, and it was just like yep, that’s perfect! Like, pretty much the first or second take. Like yep! That’s it! Great!

SFL Music Magazine: That’s impressive!

Collier: Yeah, exactly!

SFL Music Magazine: The last time we spoke was in 2020 when your heart on the line LP came out, and you told me how you grew up listening to country music. You started playing the saxophone at nine years old, in fourth grade in school.

Collier: Yeah.

SFL Music Magazine: You were inspired by a T.V. show when the dad pulled out a tenor sax. Do you have a favorite saxophone? Tenor or alto? Do you prefer one or the other because you play so many instruments?

Collier: Alto is what I started on. It’s the most similar to my actual voice, like my vocal range. So, that’s kind of been my work horse, but I love tenor. There’s a richness and a quality. This is why most people prefer hearing a tenor than an alto. The alto just seems too bright, but the tenor is just rich and luscious, and there’s so much complexity to the tone. So, generally between alto and tenor for me, but I tend to play more alto just out of habit honestly (she laughed).

SFL Music Magazine: You started your career in Philadelphia, you graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2013, you were influenced by the music in Philly and D.C. You mentioned Go-go the last time. You also won another BMA award in 2024, previously 2019 and 2020 for Horn Player of The Year. What would you recommend to an up and coming musician to be successful?

Collier: I think it’s listen to as much as you possibly can. I think the more you listen, the more you find your own voice within those veins and you can kind of carve out a space for yourself. Generally, music is an art. So, spending as much time on your ears as possible, both from a listening and transcribing perspective, but also finding a good balance between technique and then fun. Because if we do all technique, like I teach as well, so if you do all technique, it’s like nine year olds are not interested (she laughed). You know what I mean? It’s not fun. So, you have to sort of find ways to work on that technique in something that you’re really interested in. If that’s jazz, go for it. If that’s funk, study James Brown and Junior Walker and Maceo Parker and all that, right? And just kind of learn that way, rather than necessarily having to go through books and abiding by a teacher’s thought process, if that makes sense.

SFL Music Magazine: Yes. Is that what you would say you apply when you write your music? Life experiences that prompt you or what would you say?

Collier: I think a lot of them. Just like “Rosetta” on this record. “Warrior” on this record. “Elbow Grease”, “Shoulda Known Better”. Those were all inspired by things that I’ve experienced over the last five years or so. That’s true. Any songwriter. You can write a song about anything. You can write a story song about an imaginary person, but I think the ones that are near and dear to you that I experience, are more evocative, I guess. They just have stronger emotions in them.

SFL Music Magazine: Is there anything else fans can look forward to coming up? Any other projects? Videos? I know you do a lot! You teach, you have this tour and the new album.

Collier: I had more on my plate last year. I’m looking forward to having a little bit more time to write some stuff. Maybe not make a record, but release some stuff with me playing more of all the instruments. I’m just playing around a little bit more. So, I guess you can look for that.

SFL Music Magazine: You might release an EP?

Collier: Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m thinking. We’ll see how it all spans out, but that is what I’m thinking.

SFL Music Magazine: That is something definitely to look forward to. Was there anything else you want to add about the upcoming shows?

Collier: Just come and be prepared to have a good time. That’s it. That’s my aim!

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