Mace Francis

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Mace Francis
Born (1978-08-23) August 23, 1978 (age 46)[ citation needed ]
Geelong, Victoria, Australia[ citation needed ]
Instrument(s)guitar, trombone
Website macefrancis.com

Mace Francis (born 1978) is an Australian composer, band director, and academic. [1]

Contents

Career

Francis moved to Perth, Western Australia from Victoria in 2000 to study jazz composition and arranging. He graduated from WA Academy of Performing Arts in 2004 and completed a PhD at Edith Cowan University in 2015. [1] [2]

In 2003, he was nominated for the Australian Jazz Bell Awards' Best Australian Jazz Song of the Year for Land Speed Record off his album of the same name [3] The album was recorded with a nonet in New York and included American saxophonist Jon Gordon. [4] It was released on Listen/Hear Collective, a record label run by Francis and Johannes Luebbers in Perth. [5]

In 2005, Francis formed the Mace Francis Orchestra and they released seven albums over the next 15 years. [6] Their album Music for Average Photography was nominated for two awards, making the 2016 Australian Jazz Bell Awards shortlist for Best Australian Jazz Ensemble, [7] and winning 2015's Art Music Awards for Jazz Work of the Year. [8]

Since 2008, Francis has been Artistic Director of the West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra, and Musical Director for their Wednesday Night Orchestra. [9] [10] He has also held the position of Festival Director at the Perth International Jazz Festival since 2017 after the festivals founder and previous Festival Director Graham Wood died. [11]

For his 2021 album Isolation Emancipation, Francis recorded himself playing the trombone for the first time, after he began learning the instrument in 2015. The album was released with a new band Mace Francis Plus 11. [12]

Awards

YearAwarding bodyAwardWorkOutcome
2016Australian Jazz Bell AwardsBest Australian Jazz EnsembleMusic for Average Photography – Mace Francis OrchestraNominated
2015Art Music AwardsJazz Work of the YearMusic for Average PhotographyWon
2015 WAM Song of the Year Jazz Song of the YearCorio LandscapeNominated [13]
2013Australian Jazz Bell AwardsBest Australian Jazz Song of the YearLand Speed RecordNominated
2004 APRA AMCOS APRA Professional Development AwardWon [6]

Academic papers

From traffic rises: Site specificity and the compositional process (2016)

Music in Site: Integrating elements of site-specificity into composition (2015)

Site in Sound: A Review of Four Musical Works that Integrate Site Into Sound (2012) with Cat Hope

Bob Brookmeyer: composer, performer, pedagogue (2006)

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References

  1. 1 2 "Mace Francis music @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz Musicians. 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "An Interview with Dr Mace Francis – Perth International Jazz Festival and beyond - The Curb". 6 November 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. ↑ Zolin, Miriam (25 April 2013). "Nominations announced for the 2013 Australian Jazz Bell awards". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  4. ↑ Hardaker, John (25 November 2012). "CD Review: Mace Francis New York Nonet – Land Speed Record". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  5. ↑ Hardaker, John (7 October 2013). "Q&A | The Listen / Hear Collective – John Hardaker". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 Appleby, Rosalind (13 August 2020). "Big Band Birthday". Seesawmag. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. ↑ Fotakis, Nikolas (12 June 2016). "The 2016 Australian Jazz Bell Awards shortlist". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  8. ↑ "2015 Art Music Awards - winners". Australian Music Centre. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Jazz orchestra's history of success". Seesawmag. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  10. ↑ "Artistic Team". WAYJO. 22 April 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  11. ↑ Curl, Amy (13 October 2018). "PERTH JAZZ FESTIVAL LAUNCHES NEW SPRING PROGRAM". Jazz Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "Big Band Composer Mace Francis to Release 'Isolation Emancipation' on November 26th - The Curb". 16 November 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  13. ↑ "KUČKA leads nominations for WAM Song Of The Year". The Music Network. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
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