“I like to support young, local Jazz artists. For example, I nominated Lucy Head to be featured by Humans in Geelong last year.” I had the pleasure of meeting acclaimed Jazz Musician, Classical Composer and Theatre Producer, Callum Watson, 21, of Torquay, at the Geelong Library.
Callum tells us about his passion and an exciting live Jazz line-up planned for the forth Sunday of the next 3 months, from 1pm at the Black Hatt. ‘The Geelong Jazz Soirees’ will be a series of 3 events with Shandelle McGennisken (Cooke), Wayne Jury and Rob Gador & Sean Loughran. The first in the series is this Sunday, March 24th.
“I love the honesty of Jazz. It’s an expression of yourself, an improvisation based art form, based on the moment. I want to ignite the Jazz scene in Geelong and my dream is to one day, see a world class Jazz Festival here.”
Callum studied Jazz piano and classical. He has written original scores for nine theatre productions and is heavily involved in the ‘Geelong Edge’ multicultural theatre company.
Highlights of his career are many. He played at Melbourne’s International Jazz Festival as a soloist and played live on ABC Melbourne to promote this festival. He was fortunate to study with Jazz great Rodney Jones, Dizzy Gillespie’s Jazz guitarist. He’s also recently back from the Netherlands where he was Australia’s only representative at the 25th International Young Composer’s Meeting where he worked in the Classical realm and composed a piece for Opera Soloists’ and Orchestra.
Callum has worked with some of Victoria’s leading artists in record releases. ‘Echoes Of Earth (2018)’, his most recent release, was recorded in the unique acoustic setting of St Andrews Church in Brighton. It featured a variety of classical performers. You can read more about the amazingly talented Callum here: https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au//artist/watson-callum
“The Geelong Jazz Soirées are a test to show other venues that we can build a Jazz Culture in Geelong. Find out more here http://callumwatson.com.au/geelongjazz/ A lot of people in Geelong love Jazz and live music is very popular. Pistol Pete’s Food and Blues and the Piano Bar are doing a fantastic job in their musical genres. The Sweethearts are fostering new female talent in Jazz and Soul.”
“Please support Jazz in Geelong because there’s a lot of talent out there that people don’t know about. Support it or it’ll diminish.”
Story: Jacqui Bennett Photo: Marije van den Berg.
HuG 