There is no doubt James Morrison leads a diverse and successful musical career; playing with legends B.B. King and Ray Charles, conducting the world’s largest orchestra, opening the Olympic Games and receiving a medal of The Order Of Australia by Queen Elizabeth II are just a few of his milestones.
For James, however, this is just the warm up. Coming up on his busy schedule is the 2015 Blues On Broadbeach Music Festival. Working on a unique set for the occasion, James will be playing the blues at the festival.“We’re going to be doing some new tunes that have been written just for this gig and a whole bunch of things in between,” James says.
With an eleven-piece band assembled for the show, James is ready to get down and dirty with blues music and shake off his predictable jazz role. “It’s really nice for me musically [to be playing at this festival] because, although I play blues and I love it, I mostly end up being put into the jazz basket,” he says. “So it’s really good to get out of that and go somewhere where it’s all about the blues, and with so many great musicians.”
Included in his band are four singers, a rhythm section and a four-piece horn section. “To really do the blues you need the brass – well for the sort of blues I’m doing anyway – I could be bias but I just like having the brass there!”
The decision to play with a larger band was one made to cater to the kind of environment and audience at the Blues on Broadbeach Festival. “It takes a lot more organisation than if I just came out with a quartet to do some blues, but it just gives you more sound to draw on and it can be really powerful when you’ve got that many instruments and singers on stage – I love that! I think also for this type of event where we’re outdoors, you want some kind of impact.”
Having played with all the band members before, James is well aware of their abilities and is enthusiastic to be working with them again. “We’ve done different things together and they’re all really able to do all sorts of things.” Because there are so many styles within the blues genre, James is eager to try a little bit of everything and showcase what he and his band can do with blues music. “I guess I’ll say that it’s not just going to be one style within the blues, we’re going to touch on different things.”Breaking his Blues On Broadbeach Festival cherry this year, James is looking forward to the whole experience. “It’s blues and it’s on the beach and that’s going to create an atmosphere in which we’re going to make music and I know it’s going to be really free and really relaxed. It’s going to be an experience, not just a concert.”
Still working on the set list for the festival, together with his band, James says, “[the band] have a lot of ideas and we toss it around saying what will work and what won’t. But at the end of the day, I’ll need to put together a set list and make it work.”
Between now and the festival, James is jet setting off to Hong Kong and all over Australia, but is looking forward to experiencing all that Blues On Broadbeach Music Festival has to offer him. “Even though we’re doing a performance with this, I want to go on a bit of a journey through the blues.”
James Morrison plays Blues On Broadbeach Music Festival, 21-24 May.
