Mace Francis (born 1978) is an Australian composer, band director, and academic.[1]
Mace Francis | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 23, 1978[citation needed] Geelong, Victoria, Australia[citation needed] |
| Instrument(s) | guitar, trombone |
| Website | macefrancis |
Career
editFrancis 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
edit| Year | Awarding body | Award | Work | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Australian Jazz Bell Awards | Best Australian Jazz Ensemble | Music for Average Photography – Mace Francis Orchestra | Nominated |
| 2015 | Art Music Awards | Jazz Work of the Year | Music for Average Photography | Won |
| 2015 | WAM Song of the Year | Jazz Song of the Year | Corio Landscape | Nominated[13] |
| 2013 | Australian Jazz Bell Awards | Best Australian Jazz Song of the Year | Land Speed Record | Nominated |
| 2004 | APRA AMCOS | APRA Professional Development Award | Won[6] |
Academic papers
editFrom 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)
References
edit- ^ a b "Mace Francis music @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz Musicians. 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ "An Interview with Dr Mace Francis – Perth International Jazz Festival and beyond - The Curb". 6 November 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ Zolin, Miriam (25 April 2013). "Nominations announced for the 2013 Australian Jazz Bell awards". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ Hardaker, John (25 November 2012). "CD Review: Mace Francis New York Nonet – Land Speed Record". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ Hardaker, John (7 October 2013). "Q&A | The Listen / Hear Collective – John Hardaker". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ a b Appleby, Rosalind (13 August 2020). "Big Band Birthday". Seesawmag. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ Fotakis, Nikolas (12 June 2016). "The 2016 Australian Jazz Bell Awards shortlist". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ "2015 Art Music Awards - winners". Australian Music Centre. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ "Jazz orchestra's history of success". Seesawmag. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ "Artistic Team". WAYJO. 22 April 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ Curl, Amy (13 October 2018). "PERTH JAZZ FESTIVAL LAUNCHES NEW SPRING PROGRAM". Jazz Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ "Big Band Composer Mace Francis to Release 'Isolation Emancipation' on November 26th - The Curb". 16 November 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
- ^ "KUČKA leads nominations for WAM Song Of The Year". The Music Network. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
