Her music has been heard around the world – in a stunning five-year stretch, touring with the Broadway hit “Blast!”, Cameron visited 47 countries! During that extraordinary period, she worked her way up to a featured solo performer, playing an extended solo with piano onstage while Michael Bolton did a quick change. Said Cameron: “It helped me grow immensely as a performer.”
A Charleston native, Cameron attended Laing Middle, Wando High, the University of Georgia and the College of Charleston. Over the years she’s performed with Adele, Bolton, Seal, Kenny G, Smoky Robinson, Davy Jones, Orianthi, Ruben Studdard, Dave Mason, Wycliffe Gordon and Arturo Sandoval (as a child).
Classically trained, Cameron began learning jazz late in her career (she compares it to learning mandarin, explaining: “I still have a long way to go before I’d consider myself fluent. . . . I’m looking forward to the day I can carry on an incredibly elaborate and confident conversation”). She’s been inspired by Louis Armstrong, Wnyton Marsalis, Trombone Shorty, Clark Terry and Blue Mitchell.
When she’s not up on stage, or caring for her young children (“I practiced a lot more before I had two babies in two years!”), Cameron’s giving lessons at local middle schools (Laing, Cario and Moultrie) and Wando High. And who’s the band director at Wando? Her husband, a percussionist, who’s also the drummer in her New Orleans Funk band, Cameron and the Saltwater Brass.
A few of Cameron’s musical notes:
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•Aside from trumpet and flugelhorn, she’s played the piccolo trumpet and the ukulele. Asked how it feels when she plays music, Cameron said, simply: “Free.”
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•When it comes to jazz, she loves “easy, laid back New Orleans style!”
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•Cameron enjoys surfing, yoga and spending time outdoors (and she can dance! She was a backup dancer when she worked with Michael Bolton)
Cameron Handel - Trumpet
