Staff Writer
Tess Collins, a vocal jazz student, imagines herself as a singer and a storyteller who attempts to connect with her audience as she performs. Crooning classic jazz selections, she did just that with the audience Saturday evening at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.
Aroostook Republican photo/Debra WalshPosing with the band a few moments before the concert was Tess Collins, a Caribou native, who performed a jazz concert on Saturday at the Caribou Performing Art Center as part of the annual Winter Carnival. Collins, the daugther of Sam and Lise Collins, is a music students at The Hartt School of Music in Hartford. Shown here are band members John Philips-Sandy, Matt Warner, Rob Griffith, Josh Bruneau and Seth Lewis, all past and present students of the Connecticut music school.
As part of the annual Caribou Winter Carnival activities, Collins, a student at The Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, performed before a hometown crowd with her band composed of current Hartt students and alumni. At age 21, Collins has recorded a CD and has opened for Dionne Warwick, who performed at the school last year.
“I’m a storyteller,” said Collins during an interview Saturday before the concert. “I try to take a song and make the audience relate to it. I only sing songs that I relate to.”
Collins plans to graduate from The Hartt School of Music next year with a degree in music management and jazz voice. While she hopes to make a career out of performing, the management degree can help her earn a living along the way, she said.
In addition to studies, Collins and the band play regular engagements at restaurants and schools in the Hartford area. With one band member from Waterville, the band played a gig there last Friday evening on their way to the Caribou concert.
Collins also teaches piano and voice to underprivileged children in the Hartford area.
“We try to encourage the kids,” said Collins, adding that her young students could use their talent to get out of the inner city. “They don’t have to live there,” she said.
Saturday’s concert was the second time that Collins has performed in her hometown.
“I feel like I get a little more nervous playing at home,” Collins said. “I love Caribou; love coming home and seeing all my friends.”
Collins and her five-member band treated her audience to more than an hour of clean classic jazz music with songs such as “Time After Time,” “My Funny Valentine,” and “Guilty.”
After performing the last song, “Route 66,” the ensemble received a standing ovation and cheers. They returned for one encore selection.
Members of the band are John Phillips-Sandy on tenor saxophone, Matt Warner on piano, Rob Griffith performing on the drums, Josh Bruneau on trumpet and Seth Lewis strumming the bass.
Opening the show were three dance numbers performed by Abb and Paige Small of Caribou.
