JAZZ legend James Morrison will this week introduce a new generation of Australia’s finest young musicians to arts and education with the commencement of a new academic year.
Regarded as a world-class jazz school, the academy opened its doors this week to a growing student population who will call Mount Gambier home as part of the James Morrison Academy of Music in 2018.
Since 2015, the James Morrison Academy has fast established itself as an innovative music school in its own right and now boasts 21 students from across Australia and as far away as Nigeria and India, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide selected to study a Bachelor of Music.
Embarking on his first year at the academy, mature-age student Luke Chapman said he had enjoyed his first week in the city.
“I have been in Mount Gambier almost a week and I’m really enjoying it so far,” he said.
“The weather seems a little unpredictable, but everyone in the community has been really welcoming.”
Raised in Sydney, he said he was eagerly anticipating this year’s Generations in Jazz Festival.
“It’s nice that the community gets involved and that the region embraces jazz music and appreciates what the academy is all about,” he said.
To coincide with the new academic year, Mr Morrison will be launching his new album Midnight Till Dawn in Mount Gambier this weekend.
Recorded at the prestigious Abbey Road Studios in London, the album is the first to be released with his new quartet.
The group, a trio on guitar, bass and drums, has been performing with James, wowing audiences and making award winning music in its current formation since early 2015.
Listening to the album ahead of its launch, Mr Morrison says it captures a moment in time.
“It gives you the opportunity to eavesdrop on an extraordinary session of music-making,” Mr Morrison said.
The national album launch and tour will open with a concert at Morrison’s Jazz Club on Saturday night, with Mount Gambier locals the first to be given the opportunity to hear songs recorded on the album during a live concert.
The group has released two critically acclaimed albums in the last two years.
The Great American Songbook charted on both the Australian ARIA pop and jazz charts and remained on the jazz charts for 11 weeks.
The release was awarded best jazz album at the 2017 ARIA Awards.
Made up of musicians William Morrison, Harry Morrison and Patrick Danao, in Australia the group is a house-hold name and has performed for the Australian Prime Minister and the Australian Ambassador to the United States as well as at the Sydney Opera House, The Arts Centre in Melbourne, Canberra’s Llewelyn Hall and the National Press Club and the Gold Coast Arts Centre.
In the short time they have been together, the group has taken the international music scene by storm appearing at major world festivals including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Festival of Jazz de Valencia at the Palau de la Musica in Spain, the National Arts Festival in South Africa, the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and International Jazz Day at the Adelaide Festival Theatre with Grammy Award winning artist Gordon Goodwin.
