Marshall University student Colin Milam performed on bass Tuesday at the Jomie Jazz Forum for his junior recital.
Milam was joined by Tim Smith and Mark Smith on piano, Tyler Stewart on drums, Stephen Dorsey on guitar and Scott Milam on vibes.
Milam is from St. Albans and he said choosing to attend Marshall was easy.
“Marshall is one of the only schools around that has a good jazz studies program,” Milam said. “That made the choice pretty easy.”
Milam performed a slow ballad entitled “Everywhere” by Bunny Brunel and a piece called “Armondo’s Rhumba” by Chick Corea.
This was Milam’s first feature recital, and although it was not evident, he said he was still nervous.
“I played last semester in one of my friend’s senior recital, but this was my first featuring me,” Milam said. “The nerves were definitely there.”
Milam introduced the Corea piece by giving the background on Corea writing the piece for his father. Milam introduced his father Scott Milam to join him in performing the piece.
Milam and his father have been performing together before this recital, which made it easier to pick him to join him on stage.
“We have a little duo that we do in Charleston,” Milam said. “He also has a quartet he plays with. He and my mother met on a gig somewhere and both attended Marshall together.”
Milam said he is not positive what he wants to pursue in the future, but has a few options.
“My plan is maybe to go to a school up in Redwing called South Eastern Tech where they do instrument repair and I could get certified in that,” Milam. “So I may go up there and start my own business as well as still performing bass.”
Other junior and senior recitals are scheduled throughout the rest of the semester.
Kaitlyn Clay can be contacted at [email protected].