JAMES MORRISON BIG BAND AT HAYDEN ORPHEUM CREMORNE

Above – James Morrison… Photo credit Clear Image Photography

A sold-out concert on February 21, 2026, attended by an audience of over 700 people, at the lovely art-deco theatre Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne, confirmed once again James Morrison’s unparalleled standing in Australian jazz. What other individual Australian jazz musician, or jazz group, could command such an audience? To answer my own question, perhaps only The Necks, the extraordinary Australian trio which enjoys a cult following in the UK, Europe and the US, could challenge Morrison’s ascendancy.

As The Necks, a unique trio whose music combines minimalism and free improvisation, also have a devoted local audience in Australia, built up over 30 years, we’ll soon have an interesting point of comparison. Pianist Chris Abrahams, double bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer/percussionist Tony Buck, performed at City Recital Hall on Thu February 26. It would be interesting to know if they drew the 1,200 people needed to sell out the venue.

The Cremorne gig featured James Morrison’s big band: four trumpets, five saxophones, four trombones and a three-piece rhythm section. Add the leader Morrison on piano, trumpet, flugelhorn & trombone, and that’s a total of 17 musicians – in other words, a conventional big band line-up.

The last time I heard James Morrison perform, on November 20, 2025 at the State Theatre, he fronted the Big Band Liechtenstein, which hails from that small landlocked country in Eastern Europe, then on an Australian tour. The BBL was a big band of extremely high standard, but I have no hesitation in claiming that the immaculate big band of Australian musicians which Morrison presented at the Hayden Orpheum was vastly superior. That’s not surprising, considering the all-star personnel onstage

I doubt if Morrison in the past has assembled a more prestigious assemblage of local musicians to present selections from his book of big band charts. All I can say is that they played beautifully. Importantly, where I was sitting, the sound was superb; every solo played on the night was clear and heard to advantage, both from Morrison himself and the occasional featured player from within the band. What more could one ask for?

I tip my hat to the sound engineer Michael Teterin who I’m told is brought in to the Hayden Orpheum whenever there’s an important jazz gig. Obviously a highly skilled audio professional, Teterin is not only a sound engineer but also an accomplished musician himself, in fact a multi-instrumentalist. From the evidence of this concert he’s a man who certainly knows what he’s doing.

The program opened with the standard All of Me, arranged by James Morrison. It began with a rather old-fashioned Dixieland or traditional jazz flavour, which some might regard as corny. But it soon transformed itself into a full-blooded more modern jazz arrangement. The rest of the program was followed by Morrison’s customary fare: well-known standards, the melodies of which would be familiar to his audience. It’s important however to note the thought that had gone into the program, courtesy of what I can only describe as Morrison’s attention to detail. The arrangements presented were not stock charts. On the contrary they were filled with variety, interest and originality.

The second tune, for example, was a fascinating redefinition of the old standard You Are My Sunshine which apparently was sent recently to Morrison by an LA trumpet player & arranger Willie Murillo, who had fashioned the arrangement to showcase Morrison’s unique ability as a multi-instrumentalist.

Then, on to two beautiful arrangements from distinguished American composer/arrangers: Sammy Nestico’s orchestration of Johnny Mandel’s lovely 1966 composition A Time for Love; and Bill Holman’s arrangement of the standard Honeysuckle Rose. Apparently the latter was written some time ago by Holman for the Tonight Show Band, the American late-night television variety show which has long been an important showcase for jazz on American television.

To close the first set Morrison presented two numbers from his quartet repertoire which in my experience have demonstrated history as crowd-pleasers: Harry Morrison’s attractive composition Invader Zimm, which features his strong, highly melodic improvisations on double bass; and James’s arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely? sung by William Morrison. The latter shows brilliantly how a pop song in the hands of the Morrisons can be converted into a vehicle for freewheeling jazz, travelling through a myriad of time-feels: beginning with an ad lib introduction, then into an infectious Latin feel, and eventually to bright, swinging choruses in four.

The second set opened with a bright instrumental version of Hoagy Carmichael’s Georgia On My Mind, arranged by the American bassist John Clayton, which he wrote originally for the Clayton Hamilton Orchestra. Then it was back into William Morrison’s vocals, for versions of the Henry Mancini ballad Moon River (arrangement by William) and a funky version of Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend (arranged by James).

This confirmed what I’ve long suspected – that this young guitarist’s vocals would increasingly become a far more important component of the James Morrison repertoire than in the past. This makes sense as William is in fact a fine singer whose vocals go over exceedingly well with the audience which flocks to hear James Morrison’s gigs. James I think would be well pleased that William has been able to add his vocals to the Morrison repertoire; come to think of it, also that his giant son Harry has evolved into such a powerful presence in the band on double bass.

There were many highlights during this performance, but one of the most memorable was saxophonist Craig Walters coming to the front of the stage to be featured along with Morrison (James) to play the ballad No Regret. This lovely tune was composed by James long ago in the 1990s  but was sung by Emma Pask on her 2007  album The Madness Called Love. Walters, whom I’ve often praised before when he’s been featured in vocalist Gregg Arthur’s gigs, played as usual a memorable solo on the tenor saxophone.

I first heard William Morrison sing in March 2023, when the quartet performed at Foundry 616. On that occasion, he sang one number only, Kurt Elling’s Did You Call Her Today?, as an encore. I felt at the time that this sounded like an afterthought. However, I was immediately enamoured with his singing, and after hearing his work in subsequent performances over the last three years, I’m not surprised that his success as a singer has been coming along in leaps and bounds.

Another memorable James Morrison performance was brought to a close by James’s arrangement of Basin Street Blues, a tried and true crowd pleaser, and the Quincy Jones arrangement of Let The Good Times Roll, probably best-known for the Ray Charles version. Here the latter was sung by William Morrison who was brought back to the front of the stage for the coup de grace. The concert ended on a note of triumph, and was greeted with the customary standing ovation from James Morrison’s devoted audience.

As usual there was much evidence at this gig of James Morrison’s extraordinary multi-instrumentalism. That goes without saying (see previous reviews). But, in view of the repertoire presented throughout the evening, one has to conclude that there’s much more to Morrison’s artistry than his multi-instrumentalism. If one simply took a look at the list of tunes played on the night, without knowing the content of the arrangements, you might conclude that the band was playing tired old workhorses that have been done to death by umpteen jazz bands in the past. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Such a conclusion does not take into account the thoroughgoing and relentless musical interest which is found in the arrangements, many of which were written by the Morrisons of course, but which otherwise were written by a cavalcade of American master arrangers, as listed above. On the evidence of this concert, I feel that James Morrison now has access to an unparalleled book of big band charts which enables him to present a repertoire of the highest quality.

What fascinates me is the fact that James Morrison’s music is able to appeal to what one might call, for want of a better term, the general audience, but at the same time is able to satisfy the jazz specialist, such as myself, who is looking for the sort of complex musical qualities which have always been found in jazz throughout its long history. This combination of factors is just more evidence of the James Morrison phenomenon, which ticks so many essential boxes.

This concert took place at the Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne on February 21, 2026, and featured James Morrison, William Morrison, Harry Morrison, Patrick Danao, Ray Cassar, Paul Panichi, Ralph Pyl, Bob Coassin, Craig Walters, Graham Jesse, Mark Taylor, Murray Jackson, Steve Fitzmaurice, Colin Burrows, Dave Panichi, Roy Ferin & Mark Barnsley.