Джеймс Моррисон: Австралийский джазовый трубач и композитор

Australian jazz musician (born 1962)

James Lloyd Morrison AM (born 11 November 1962) is an Australian jazz musician. Although his main instrument is trumpet, he has also performed on trombone, tuba, euphonium, flugelhorn, saxophone, clarinet, double bass, guitar, and piano. He is a composer, writing jazz charts for ensembles of various sizes and proficiency levels. He composed and performed the opening fanfare at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 Morrison and an a cappella group, The Idea of North, won Best Jazz Album, for their collaboration on Feels Like Spring. In 2012 Morrison was appointed as Artistic Director of the Queensland Music Festival for the 2013 and 2015 festivals. He was inducted into the Graeme Bell Hall of Fame 2013 at the Australian Jazz Bell Awards. In July 2013 he conducted the World's Largest Orchestra in Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, consisting of 7,224 musicians.

James Lloyd Morrison was born on 11 November 1962 in Boorowa, a rural farming community, where his father, George Morrison, was a Methodist minister. Morrison comes from a musical family: his mother plays alto saxophone, piano, and organ; his sister is a trumpeter, and his older brother, John Morrison, is a jazz drummer. The family moved to various sites in New South Wales due to his father's ministry before settling in Pittwater.

In 1983 James and John Morrison formed the Morrison Brothers Big Bad Band, a 13 piece group. In 1984 the band included James Morrison on trumpet, trombone, and piano, Warwick Alder on trumpet, Peter Cross on trumpet, Paul Andrews on alto saxophone, Tom Baker on alto and baritone saxophones, Jason Morphett on tenor saxophone, Glenn Henrich on vibraphone, Craig Scott on bass, and John Morrison on drums. The band's debut album, A Night in Tunisia, was released in 1984 by ABC Records as part of the Don Burrows Collection. The title track is a jazz standard by Dizzy Gillespie; another track, "Burrows Bossa", was written by Morrison. The album was live at Rothbury Estate Winery. Morrison played the wrong Spanish national anthem at the Davis Cup final in Australia in 2003. Instead of playing the current anthem, Marcha Real, he performed the Himno de Riego, not heard since the Second Republic era (1931–1939), causing the Spanish Secretary of State for Sport to walk out in anger. Morrison later revealed he had mistakenly learned the incorrect tune due to being given the wrong sheet music. Fortunately an official quickly found a CD of the correct anthem, placating the Spanish and allowing the match to proceed.

Morrison has performed with Dizzy Gillespie (the first Australian to do so); Don Burrows, Ray Charles, and B. B. King. He has also worked with George Benson, Ray Brown, Cab Calloway, Jon Faddis, Herbie Hancock, Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones, Graeme Lyall, Wynton Marsalis, Mark Nightingale, Red Rodney, Arturo Sandoval, Woody Shaw, Frank Sinatra, and Phil Stack. In 1990, he recorded the album Snappy Doo with Ray Brown on double bass, Herb Ellis on guitar, Jeff Hamilton on drums, and Morrison on piano, trumpet, trombone (tenor and bass), saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone), and bits of clarinet, flute, flugelhorn, and euphonium. He recorded a sequel, Snappy Too, in 2011 with Hamilton, but Brown and Ellis died in the interim, so Morrison played guitar and bass in addition to all of the other instruments from the first album. In 1999, he collaborated with Gina Jeffreys and The Idea of North on the song "Blue Christmas", which is included on Jeffreys' album, Christmas Wish. In 2005, he was guest soloist at the 150th anniversary concert of the Black Dyke Band; and in 2009 performed with them as special guest during their Australian tour. In 2007, he again appeared as guest soloist at concerts with the band in Manchester and London. In 2003 he founded the band on the Edge together with the German keyboardist and composer Simon Stockhausen, son of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Morrison has a long association with composer and pianist Lalo Schifrin (composer of the theme from Mission: Impossible) and has recorded albums for Schifrin's "Jazz Meets the Symphony" series. These include recordings with the London and the Czech National symphony orchestras. He found his lead vocalist, Emma Pask, at a school concert when she was 16, and she became an internationally renowned jazz singer. Morrison sponsors scholarships for musicians and is involved with youth bands. His association with Generations in Jazz has spanned three decades. He was chairman of this organization, which ran one of the largest youth jazz events in the world.

For a number of years, Morrison has been the presenter of the in flight jazz radio station for Qantas Airways. In 1994, James presented Behind The Wheel, a motoring television series on Network Ten. Ten saw the benefits of a series like this and commissioned 18 episodes. It aired on a Tuesday night at 7.30pm to an audience of 2.1 million viewers. The pilot episode was produced by Tim Kupsch, Andy Wallace and James Morrison. alongside Warren Brown and Steve Pizzati. He appeared as the "Star in a Bog Standard Car" in episode 6 of the first series. On 18 September 2018, he started to present the Tuesday night specialist show Top Brass for BBC Radio 2, which was moved alongside Sunday Night Is Music Night for series 2 in 2020 and which continues to be broadcast in the United Kingdom at 9pm on a Sunday in 2022.

In early 2010 he formed an association with Austrian brass manufacturer Schagerl to produce "signature" models. These include two series – the custom, hand made "Meister" series and the intermediate professional "Academica" series. There are trumpets and trombones in both series, and the Meister series includes flugelhorn and bass trumpet. His design of a trumpet called "The Raven" uses rotary valves with a long lead pipe usually associated with a piston trumpet. He has also designed an improved superbone, a hybrid trombone that has three valves as well as a slide. An instrument project with designer and robotics expert Steve Marshall produced the Morrison Digital Trumpet, a MIDI wind controller that looks like a futuristic version of a typical trumpet. It allows a trumpeter to play electronic sounds in much the same way a pianist can play a synthesizer. On his collaboration album The Other Woman with singer Deni Hines, he wrote a track called "(Tired of Being) The Other Woman". When Morrison performed this track at a performance in Sydney, he revealed his latest piece of music technology. It is a Roland keyboard (VP770) that has a microphone attached and 'sings' whatever Morrison speaks into the microphone, producing the sound of a choir. Award winning jazz drummer David Jones started lecturing at the academy in 2015. The academy ceased operations in 2021, citing the COVID 19 pandemic as a major factor. as of September 2023 the program was undergoing restructuring, with an aim to bring short courses to regional areas in the near future.

Morrison is also a private pilot and the brand ambassador for Australian Air Safaris.

Morrison met Judi Green, the 1987 Miss Australia winner, at a barbecue before both participated in a celebrity race at the Adelaide Grand Prix.

On 9 June 1997 James Morrison was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia with a citation "for service to music, particularly jazz, and the sponsorship of young musicians".