The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of indigenous and Western styles are exemplified in the works of Yothu Yindi, No Fixed Address, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Christine Anu, and mark distinctly Australian contributions to world music.
The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl, Harry James Angus, Will Hull-Brown (drums), Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala, Ollie McGill and Ryan Monro. Monro retired from the band in March 2021, while Angus, Hull-Brown and Khadiwhala all left in April 2022. They are often supplemented by The Empire Horns, a brass duo composed of Ross Irwin (trumpet) and Kieran Conrau (trombone), among others. Their sound is a fusion of jazz, ska, funk and rock with heavy Latin influences.
Jazz music has a long history in Australia. Over the years jazz has held a high-profile at local clubs, festivals and other music venues and a vast number of recordings have been produced by Australian jazz musicians, many of whom have gone on to gain a high profile in the international jazz arena.
Rai Thistlethwayte is an Australian rock, pop and jazz musician and songwriter. Thistlethwayte is an accomplished pianist, guitarist, and vocalist. He is the lead singer and primary songwriter in the Australian pop rock band Thirsty Merc. From 2004, Thirsty Merc released a string of hits in the Australian charts including "In the Summertime", "Someday, Someday", "20 Good Reasons", "Emancipate Myself", "My Completeness", "When the Weather Is Fine" and "Mousetrap Heart". He is currently based in Los Angeles. As a solo artist, Thistlethwayte performs under the name 'Sun Rai'.
Donald Vernon Burrows was an Australian jazz and swing musician who played clarinet, saxophone and flute.
Michael John Harvey is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
James Lloyd Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician. Although his main instrument is trumpet, he has also performed on trombone, tuba, euphonium, flugelhorn, saxophone, clarinet, double bass, guitar, and piano. He is a composer, writing jazz charts for ensembles of various sizes and proficiency levels.
Dave Graney is an Australian rock musician, singer-songwriter and author from Melbourne. Since 1978, Graney has collaborated with drummer-multi instrumentalist Clare Moore. The pair have fronted or been involved with numerous bands including The Moodists, Dave Graney and The White Buffaloes, Dave Graney and The Coral Snakes, The Dave Graney Show, Dave Graney and Clare Moore featuring The Lurid Yellow Mist or Dave Graney and The Lurid Yellow Mist and Dave Graney and The mistLY. Everything Was Funny was credited to Dave Graney and Clare Moore.
Melbourne Polytechnic, formerly NMIT, is an institute of higher education and vocational education (TAFE) located in Melbourne, Australia that has been operating since around 1910.
True Live is an Australian band formed in Melbourne, Australia. The group had mild chart success with "TV" reaching #76 on the ARIA Single Chart and The Shape of It reaching #85 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The band received regular play on radio and television and were chosen to perform at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The group's early recordings contained strong ties to hip hop but since 2011 have made a significant turn toward rock and classical leanings.
John Kenneth Pochée, OAM was an Australian jazz drummer and bandleader. As drummer, bandleader and organizer he played a major role in the history of Australian jazz.
Paul Atherstone Grabowsky is an Australian pianist and composer, founder of the Australian Art Orchestra.
Gregory Charles Arnold is an Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and academic. Arnold won the APRA Songwriter of the Year award in 1993 and performs regularly as a solo artist and with his folk rock band, Things of Stone and Wood.
Eugene Ball is an Australian jazz trumpeter. He won the Best Australian Jazz Composition Award for "Fool Poet's Portion" at the Australian Jazz Bell Awards in 2008.
Stonefield are an Australian rock band comprising the four Findlay sisters: Amy on drums and lead vocals, Hannah on lead guitar, Sarah on keyboards, and Holly on bass guitar. They were formed in 2006 as Iotah in Darraweit Guim, a small town in rural Victoria. They changed their name in 2010 and have released four studio albums, Stonefield, As Above, So Below — which peaked at No. 19 on the ARIA Albums Chart — Far from Earth and Bent.
John McAll is a pianist, composer, arranger and producer with experience ranging from jazz, pop, blues, rock contemporary classical, afrobeat and theatre.
Dirty Three are an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album Horse Stories was voted by Rolling Stone as one of the top three albums of the year. Two of their albums have peaked into the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Ocean Songs (1998) and Toward the Low Sun (2012). During their career they have spent much of their time overseas when not performing together. Turner is based in Melbourne, White lives in New York, and Ellis in Paris. Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane described them as providing a "rumbling, dynamic sound incorporated open-ended, improvisational, electric rock ... minus the jazz-rock histrionics". In October 2010, Ocean Songs was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.
The Vampires are an Australian world-roots jazz group formed by saxophonist Jeremy Rose, trumpeter Nick Garbett, drummer Alex Masso and bassist Mike Majkowski in 2005. The band formed in their final year of studying for their Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The band has released six albums and toured extensively around Australia, Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, Austria and Italy. The band performs mostly original music by Jeremy Rose and Nick Garbett that draws inspiration from their travels around the world and experiences in life. The band has performed at every major jazz festival in Australia, the Love Supreme Festival (UK), Glasgow Jazz Festival, Edingburgh Jazz Festival, Jazzahead Festival, and the Enjoy Jazz Festival.
Andrea Keller is an Australian pianist and composer. She won three ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album with Thirteen Sketches, Mikrokosmos and Footprints and was nominated in 2013 for the album Family Portraits.
Robert Graeme Barnard was an Australian trumpet and cornet player. He was nominated at the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 for Best Jazz Album for Live at the Sydney Opera House, which was recorded with the Australian Jazz Allstars.
