JAMES MORRISON PRESENTS THE BIG BAND LIECHTENSTEIN

Liechtenstein is a tiny landlocked principality situated between Austria and Switzerland where the language spoken is Swiss-German. It’s only 25km long and has a small population of just over 40,000. In Australian terms, it’s no larger than, say, Townsville in Queensland or Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. So perhaps it’s surprising that such a tiny place has a professional jazz orchestra as accomplished as the Big Band Liechtenstein. It was founded in 1983 as an ensemble of the Liechtenstein Music School.

Still, this small country is fortunate to be situated adjacent to a plethora of performance opportunities in Europe, where there’s a huge following for jazz music. It was a very worthwhile experience to hear this band play in Sydney under the expert direction of our own James Morrison. He wore a white coat, over a black shirt and black trousers. I wish there was a pic available of him wearing this resplendent clobber.

While the Big Band Liechtenstein had several unique qualities which I’ll comment on below, it’s important to note that the drawcard was without question the multi-instrumentalist Morrison; it was palpably obvious, from conversations with audience members before the concert, and also from audience reactions during the two one-hour sets, that this was James Morrison’s audience. The State Theatre holds 2,034 people and the fact that it was sold-out can be put down to Morrison’s considerable drawing power.

Also interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, other than Morrison there were four Australian musicians in the band: the saxophonists Mark Taylor & Murray Jackson; trombonist Roy Ferin; and the guitarist/vocalist William Morrison, James’s son. Apparently for health reasons the aging founder of the orchestra was unable to travel; and some of the musicians in the band were unable to get away from their day jobs, so Australian musicians filled the breach.

While James Morrison’s performances often display his multi-instrumentalism, whereby he plays at professional standard a bewildering variety of instruments, this concert was relatively modest in this respect. Morrison mostly concentrated on the trumpet, although he picked up the trombone in a lovely version of Johnny Mandel’s waltz Emily, where he played the melody and took a solo.

To close the first set William Morrison sang the Stevie Wonder classic Isn’t She Lovely, whereupon James moved to the piano. Later during the second set he played soprano saxophone in another Willliam Morrison vocal Can’t Help Falling In Love, which was performed as a duet – just James & William together. These were reminders of the well-known Morrison multi-instrumentalism but, as I say, this aspect of his artistry did not dominate the performance, which was unusual.

While not wishing to rain on this band’s parade, I was exceedingly unnerved during the opening two numbers by the volume of the band’s electric bass player Christof Becker. In a nutshell it was far too loud. This could have been the fault of the sound technicians (in which case this may have been an example of such technicians having an inadequate knowledge of how jazz should sound), or the fault of the bassist himself (in which case he adopted a volume which suited him on stage without an awareness of how it sounded out in the audience). As a matter of interest I understand that the sound was controlled by house sound technicians provided by the State Theatre.

It’s hard to know where the truth lies, but the band’s sound would have been far more groovy and acceptable if that element in the sound mix had been well-balanced in relation to the excellent sound of the other instruments. This problem however seemed to have been rectified somewhat during the first set by the third number Emily.

Regrettably this sound balance problem was to rear its ugly head again during the first two numbers of the second set, Caravan, and What a Wonderful World, although, as in the first set, this was ameliorated somewhat as the set proceeded. Or, perhaps my ears got used to a somewhat imperfect sound balance, and I didn’t notice it any further.

There was one aspect of the band’s sound, by the way, that was extremely welcome – the willingness of the rhythm section to bring the volume down to a whisper for the beginning of most improvisations, particularly for James Morrison’s solos and the excellent piano solos from Philipp Zünd. When James is given the opportunity for the ruminative thought patterns early in his solos to be clearly heard, this is one of the most attractive sounds in Australian jazz, which in my view certainly amplifies to a great extent Morrison’s wide appeal.

In St James Infirmary Blues, the second number on the program, Morrison was adept in using the plunger mute, which he described as the “toilet plunger”. This was one of a number of running gags that Morrison used throughout the performance. Another was the drummer Daniel Schuchter’s first name. In Australia he would have been called “Danny” but in Swiss-German apparently it was “Dunny”. Of course someone hailing from Liechtenstein could hardly be expected to be aware of the meaning of this term in the Australian vernacular. However it gave Morrison an opportunity to refer to it from time to time, as part of the genial patter he uses to bring the audience into his orbit.

I mentioned above that William Morrison closed the first set with the vocal Isn’t She Lovely? Before that tune however, he was introduced for the first time to sing very beautifully the Henry Mancini standard Moon River, which also included a lovely trumpet solo from James. If those two tunes had been the only vocals from William, they would have been memorable highlights of the gig but, as it turned out, he was to be called upon in the second set to sing three further tunes, and in my view virtually became the star of the show, responsible to a great extent for the concert’s success.

I first heard William Morrison sing in March, 2023 at Foundry 616, when he did one number only, Kurt Elling’s Did You Call Her Today? Over the ensuing years I feel he has become more expressive as a vocalist, having adopted the practice of taking the melody he’s singing up into the higher registers of his voice at a certain point, and increasing his volume. I think of this as a singer going up a gear. When William does this, spirits in the audience  are lifted, and his singing can be very moving. It’s a very effective technique.

The third tune in the second set was the big band’s arrangement of Chick Corea’s brilliant La Fiesta, which gave the band an opportunity to bring off a spectacular and exciting Latin arrangement. It included a splendid tenor solo from Marco Böni, who played most of the saxophone solos on the night. The duet performed by the two Morrisons was then played – Can’t Help Falling in Love. Then it was on to Carole King’s well-known You’ve Got a Friend, once again sung very well by William Morrison.

The latter tune brought the capacity audience to their feet for a standing ovation, so an encore (without the band having to leave the stage) was called for. In introducing the final number, Louis Jordan’s classic Let The Good Times Roll, which was sung once again by William Morrison, James was able to refer to the 80 gigs he did while on tour with a big band (presumably the Philip Morris Superband some 20 years ago) which at the time included Ray Charles & B B King.

According to James, Ray Charles did Let The Good Times Roll on every gig, which makes sense; it’s a natural and up-beat closing number for a jazz performance. Also it was a reminder that James Morrison has enjoyed a number of collaborations with venerable jazz artists during his successful career. It’s worth reminding the audience of this undeniable fact.

This gig also was another reminder that Morrison’s characteristic repertoire – a mixture of familiar songs, spiced up with jazz virtuosity, and presented with aplomb – is a sure-fire recipe for success. This concert confirmed that James Morrison is likely to maintain his hold over the lucrative middle-of-the road jazz audience in this country.

This concert took place at the State Theatre in Sydney on November 20, 2025 featuring the Big Band Liechtenstein, with Australian musicians James Morrison, Mark Taylor, Murray Jackson, Roy Ferin and William Morrison. Other than Sydney, the band’s Australian tour included performances in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.