James Morrison- The Call

James Morrison is one of Australia's most celebrated jazz musicians, best known as a virtuoso trumpeter though his talents extend far beyond it. Born James Lloyd Morrison on 11 November 1962 in Boorowa, New South Wales, he came from a musical family and began on cornet at age seven, soon adding trombone, tuba, and euphonium. He has gone on to perform not just trumpet but soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, clarinet, flugelhorn, bass trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, double bass, guitar, and piano. His professional rise was rapid: he formed his first band at nine and was playing nightclub concerts professionally by thirteen, and at eighteen he joined Don Burrows' quintet, touring Australia and the Far East. At sixteen he made his international debut at the Monterey Jazz Festival, launching a career that brought collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, B.B. King, Frank Sinatra, Arturo Sandoval, and Wynton Marsalis. Morrison is also a composer, he wrote and performed the opening fanfare at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and a noted television presence, having co-presented Top Gear Australia from 2009. He's been honoured as a guest of President Obama at the White House during International Jazz Day 2016, and holds honorary doctorates from Edith Cowan University and the University of Adelaide, alongside an adjunct professorship at the University of South Australia. Education has been a lasting focus: in March 2015 he opened the James Morrison Academy of Music in Mount Gambier, South Australia, a tertiary jazz school affiliated with the University of South Australia, cementing his legacy as both performer and mentor to generations of Australian jazz musicians.