Julien Wilson

The year he left high school, Julien bought his Yamaha 62R soprano which he still plays regularly and has recently and acquired an SEVR clarinet. Julien says that becoming an official Yamaha Artist and developing a relationship with Yamaha Music Australia "has been a wonderfully rewarding experience".

Julien is a Melbourne-based saxophonist who graduated from the VCA in 1994, the same year he won the National Jazz Award at Wangaratta Jazz Festival. He is the recipient of the Freedman Jazz Fellowship, an APRA/AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence in Jazz and an armful of Australian Jazz “Bell” Awards including Australian Jazz Artist of the Year. From 1999-2001 he studied at New England Conservatory (USA) with Paul Bley and George Russell. His long standing trio with Stephen Magnusson and Stephen Grant has been praised as “one of the most original groups in Australian jazz”. His other groups include STOCK and ARC. In 2013 he founded Lionsharecords; The label’s debut This Is Always was the first album to receive a Bell Award Trifecta.

In addition to working with luminaries including Kurt Elling, Charlie Haden, Gavin Bryars and Jim Black, Julien has been featured as a soloist with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Aventa Ensemble, and a who’s who of Australian jazz and improvised music. He has been a long term member of SNAG, Ishish, Virus, This World, The Black Arm Band, The Australian Art Orchestra, Rumberos, Los Cabrones and 12ToneDiamonds, and is featured on award winning albums by Vanessa Perica, Sam Anning, Andrea Keller, Jonathan Zwartz, Barney McAll and Stu Hunter. Julien has been teaching jazz and improvisation at Monash and Melbourne University since 2003.

Banner photo by WILK