James Morrison Thoughts
"Concerto for Trumpet, Jazz Trio and Orchestra"
James Morrison – Trumpet

Allan: Tell us about your experiences with the concerto for trumpet jazz trio orchestras that we did together for the Adelaide Symphony orchestra last year...

James: When you get together to make music with one other person it’s a whole different world than doing it on your own of course and then as you add more people there is collective music being made. To me the whole idea of standing there with the number of musicians that you are with in itself creates an atmosphere.

Then the fact that you are taking the symphony orchestra, which has a vibe all of its own and it’s got this huge sort of tradition and as well as apart from the actual sound that is available,

it is just this thing, that sitting in front of the symphony orchestra things get serious. Mixing that with a jazz trio and a soloist straight away to me is either going to go one way or the other.

It’s either going to be... well you are going to say well you know let’s just try to put these things together, but they don’t really go together ,and that I’ve heard happen many times unfortunately. Here’s a bit of trio, here’s a bit of symphony, here’s a bit of trio. Or it’s going to go the other way and somehow, and I’ll tell you how in a sec, it excels and it becomes a new instrument. The symphony orchestra, the trio and the soloist is an instrument. If that happens then it’s greater than …..some of its parts and it’s very exciting to be a part of and the way that it happens is the composer.

We can interpret it, we can put ourselves into it as we do, but if the composer hasn’t given us this instrument to play and he has given us two instruments that don’t go together well then it’s all lost at the start, and in this case, of course, it just worked from the word go. The trio played differently than they would have in any other time and the orchestra played differently than they would have in any other time, and we met.

We met, not in the middle, but we met in another place. We met on planet Zavod. (laughter all round) It took us all to a new place. You created a setting for us to meet at. So yes, in essence, in a long answer to your question. It is a major thing because the chances of that happening are so slim and it happens in so few times in your life that when they do it is a major event. It is a musical event that is not only a gig, but far more than that it is one of those things that shapes your musical being.

Allan: How do you see its future as part of your repertoire?

James: Well I guess there are two sides to that. One is ... the more opportunities for us to play it and for people to hear it is very important. That is the upside. The downside is of course that the nature of the work, if it was a thing for piano and trumpet we could do it every night of the week starting tomorrow, but the fact is that it does require a symphony orchestra and a lot of rehearsal and a lot of logistics which means that it is not going to happen every night.

In a way perhaps there is a place for that too. It just makes it all the more special when it does happen. Not something that you just do at the drop of a hat. You know just one other thing for the magazine about things like this... there is a need... there is a hunger for them. People are looking for new works, innovative works.

Things that they want to be fantastic. It will always to be wonderful to hear the great classical composers played by a symphony orchestra and it will always be wonderful to hear jazz groups playing Duke Ellington, but people want to hear this century’s and this time’s Duke Ellingtons so far.

Mozart couldn’t write a symphony orchestra in jazz trio with a soloist. It didn’t exist. So that’s really what it is. People say well where is the next thing coming from. They want to hear new music.