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Paul Williamson's High 5
Paul Williamson's High 5 Paul has been steadily building his reputation on the Australian jazz and improvisation scene as an individual voice in…
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Paul has been steadily building his reputation on the Australian jazz and improvisation scene as an individual voice in trumpet and composition since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1995 with a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Improvisation), the year he also was awarded the Ivan Oliver Scholarship. He currently leads the Paul Williamson Sextet, and has released four CD’s through Newmarket Music: Non-Consensual Head Compression (2001), Talk It Up (2002) and Mutations (2003), for which he received an Australia Council Presentation and Promotion Grant. In May 2005 Paul recorded On the Surface, In the Core with his sextet with the assistance of an Australia Council Presentation and Promotion Grant. He was also the recipient of a New Work Grant to compose new music for a chamber ensemble.
In addition to his original projects, Paul is actively involved in playing, composing, and recording with various collaborations and projects. Currently these include: Los Cabrones, Jamie Oehlers Quintet, Trumpet A-Go-Go with Scott Tinkler, Rumberos, and Bingo Wings with Grabowsky/ Bloxom/ Oehlers and Aravena.
In 2003, he was a finalist in the National Jazz Awards. He was also the recipient of an Australia Council ‘Skills and Art Development’ grant. He has studied with Dave Douglas, Ingrid Jensen, Bill Frisell, George Lewis, Mark Feldman, James Genus and Jason Moran at the 2004 Banff International Workshop.
Paul has played at many major Australian jazz festivals and workshops, including Wangaratta International Jazz Festival, Melbourne International Jazz Festival, St Kilda Festival, WOMAD, Montsalvat Jazz Festival, Melbourne International Brass Festival, Sydney Bacardi Latin Festival, Apollo Bay Music Festival, Brunswick Street Festival, and the Chapel Street Festival. He has also toured Noumea and China with Los Cabrones.
‘It’s hard to choose a top five as most gigs/ performances have very special and memorable moments. I have restricted myself to improvisation-based gigs. These particular five gigs have stuck out in my memory for their spontaneity, group interaction, and the powerful unified group identity (sound) they projected.’
1. WAYNE SHORTER QUARTET - Melbourne Concert Hall 2005
The dynamic power of Brian Blade, Jason Moran, and John Patittucci provided a great vehicle for the effortless flow of Wayne Shorter’s ideas. The bands interaction and openness to go in any direction with the music was pure joy to this listener!
2. WALLACE RONEY – in N.Y, 1996.
Whilst I’m not a big fan of Wallace’s recorded material, I was blown away by the conviction and energy, which he and his band played live - very raw and exciting. Wallace was really stretching out beyond his uses of chromatic idiosyncrasies. The band included Lenny White, and Geri Allen and they went hard!
3. ROY HARGROVE SEXTET - at the Village Vanguard, 1996.
Whilst the band played straight ahead tunes imbued with many cliches, they played with so much spirit and fun it became infectious to the listener – in the same way one becomes an instant fan when they hear Australia’s own, the Hoodangers. Hargrove’s Sextet that night was a perfect example of the saying ‘it’s not what you play, but how you play it’.
4. DAVE DOUGLAS QUARTET at Banff 2004.
This gig highlighted the power of two great leaders – Dave Douglas and Bill Frisell, both endowed with the power to draw the band (James Genus, Clarence Penn) with them on wild and fiery journeys. Frisell’s industrial and highly personal guitar effects were beautifully integrated into revamped music of both leaders.
5. SCOTT TINKLER TRIO at Capers in 1999.
Playing to a small audience in possibly the wrong venue for the music, the trio featuring Adam Armstrong and Simon Barker were ‘on’ from the first note irrespective of the environment. As a listener it felt like every technical and musical venture they tried worked – one of those nights when everything clicked.
