When James Morrison performed at Foundry 616 in March, 2023, I was there with bells on, for the simple reason that Morrison, who is perhaps the only jazz musician in the country popular enough to sell out our largest concert halls, is rarely heard in the small jazz club. To my way of thinking the small venue is the best place to hear the art form of jazz, because of the intimacy that is possible in such a space. I was delighted therefore to discover that Morrison and his quartet were, for the first time, on the jazz program at The Lounge in Chatswood, a 300-seater venue which is virtually perfect for the presentation of jazz music. This series of concerts is now steaming along successfully every month, owing to the support of Willoughby City Council.
We know that the multi-instrumentalist Morrison has always been a phenomenon. Even at the tender age of 16 when he arrived at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and subsequently became known outside a small circle of musicians with whom he’d been playing professionally for several years, it was clear that he had arrived fully formed as a virtuoso. In no time he was performing regularly with his mentor the late Don Burrows, and well on the way to outshining Burrows as Australia’s most celebrated jazz musician.
Morrison’s current quartet is unique in several ways. First, it includes two of his sons, William Morrison (guitar & vocals), and Harry Morrison (double bass), brilliant players who without doubt have inherited their father’s jazz genes. I am not aware of any other group in Australian jazz where such a highly talented bandleader and his two children are playing at such a professional level.
Second, soundwise this is a very gentle quartet, with a palpable feeling in the group, which may have evolved intuitively over time, for the sort of light and shade in the music which renders them acceptable to a wide spectrum of jazz fans. As the drummer is usually responsible for the essential character of a jazz group, I put this down very much to the nuanced approach of Patrick Danao, who is part of a growing school of light, subtle drummers which now includes among others, Andrew Dickeson, Hamish Stuart and Felix Bloxsom. These drummers do not so much hit the drums, as provide colours to the music.
Drummer Patrick Danao… Photo credit Helene Cochaud
Third, the personality of James Morrison himself is a remarkable asset. An experienced, relaxed and pleasant emcee on stage, with a self-deprecating sense of humour, laced with irony, he has the priceless ability to speak to audience members in such a way that they are drawn into his orbit. Here’s a man who is palpably having fun as a jazz musician, and the audience is warmly invited to join in that fun. It’s all extremely congenial.
This concert took place on August 21, Harry Morrison’s 28th birthday. Four days earlier William Morrison had turned 30. Both James’s sons were born in the month of August, but obviously in different years. This gave Morrison an opportunity to deploy his impish wit. What had happened nine months before the birth of both sons in August? James’s birthday on November 11.
Speaking of birthdays, drummer Danao will turn 30 in September, 2025 and James, now 62, will turn 63 in November.
On this program William Morrison was much more to the fore as a singer than on previous gigs I’ve witnessed. Towards the end of the first set he sang the Kurt Elling tune Did You Call Her Today? Morrison (James) related an interesting fact that I felt enlivened the presentation. He said this tune had the same chord structure as Duke Ellington’s famous composition In a Mellow Tone. Elling had written a new melody (apparently the term for this process is “contrafact”), over the chords of Ellington’s composition.
Kurt Elling (left) & James Morrison… Photographer unknown
This gave Morrison an opportunity to relate that, when touring with Kurt Elling in the USA, he (Elling) would remind the musicians to call home every day, where a wife or partner might be waiting to hear from the travelling musician. Otherwise, Morrison warned, if you neglected this duty, you might find that, on arriving home at the end of the tour, your key might not fit the lock on your front door!
Early in the first set, William sang the lovely Antonio Carlos Jobim tune If You Never Come To Me, perhaps best-known as a track on the great 1967 album entitled Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. William sang it beautifully, but significantly in Portuguese, which was entirely appropriate as we were informed that William recently had married “a Brazilian lady”, as described by James.
Also, late in the first set William sang the tune much associated with Elvis Presley, Can’t Help Falling in Love and, at the end of the second set, to close the performance, Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely? The latter was a tour de force, showing brilliantly how a pop song can be converted into a vehicle for freewheeling jazz. It began with an unaccompanied version from James on piano, followed by William’s statement of the melody, accompanied by piano only, before the group went into a bright Latin feel for the improvisations, which eventually was transformed into bright, swinging choruses in four. Later, lo and behold, there was a delightful surprise – a couple of scat choruses from the singer in unison with his own guitar lines, a la George Benson. One could only marvel at this great version of Wonder’s song.
At the Foundry gig in 2023, I recall that William Morrison sang only one number, once again Did You Call Her Today? As an encore on the night, it sounded very much like an afterthought. Similarly, at the quartet’s City Recital Hall gig in September, 2024, William was restricted once again to only one number, this time the great ballad I Fall in Love Too Easily.
Guitarist/vocalist William Morrison… Photo credit Helene Cochaud
William’s more prominent role at The Lounge suggests that his vocals are now much more central to the group’s repertoire than before. In my view this is a good move; it underlines my theory that it’s the talented jazz instrumentalist who is often best situated to sing, as his (or her) education has prepared them as to how to best handle the demands of vocalising. (Think of the excellent singers who were initially accomplished jazz musicians before taking up singing: Nat King Cole, Chet Baker, George Benson, Sarah Vaughan, Nicki Parrott et al).
There’s so much more I could talk about, arising from this excellent performance, but I confine myself to three memorable highlights: Morrison’s treatment of the standard My Blue Heaven on piano, showing once again his great ability on this instrument (I was glad to learn on the night that James’s first instrument as a child was actually the piano: this was news to me as I’d long thought that he started on the trumpet, or maybe the trombone); Harry Morrison’s attractive composition Invader Zimm, which foreshadowed his strong, highly melodic improvisations on double bass throughout the program; and the one tune on which Morrison played tenor saxophone, a soft, exquisite version of the ballad Body and Soul.
This concert took place at The Lounge in Chatswood on August 21, 2025, courtesy of support from Willoughby Council’s arts and culture program “Culture Bites”. It featured James Morrison (trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, piano); William Morrison (guitar & vocals), Harry Morrison (double bass) and Patrick Danao (drums). James Morrison will spend his next birthday in November, 2025, in Europe touring with the Austrian musician Thomas Gansch (trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals) and his band Gansch & Roses. It’s Gansch’s 50th birthday tour and, other than Morrison (trombone, flugelhorn), the band will include Randy Brecker (trumpet); Peter Erskine (drums); David Taylor (bass trombone); Wolfgang Puschnig, Florian Trübsbach & Fabian Rucker (saxophones); and Albert Wieder (tuba). As always Morrison will be playing internationally in top company.
Great review. Like I was there!