Yemembra Moora by Jessica Carlton | 2023 Composers in Residence Program

This piece Yemembra Moora was composed and arranged by Jessica Carlton as part of WAYJO's 2023 Composers in Residence.

As part of the program, WAYJO offered promising jazz composers the rare opportunity to develop new works for a large ensemble, providing them with both artistic mentorship and generous commission fees. Under the guidance of WAYJO’s Artistic Director, composers had the freedom to explore creative boundaries and contribute fresh, forward-thinking music to the big band repertoire.

Featuring:

Alto 1: Holly Forster
Alto 2: Aaron Caldwell
Tenor 1: Oliver Taylor
Tenor 2: Ethan Nankivell
Baritone: Naoko Uemoto
Trumpet 1: Dusan Cuculoski
Trumpet 3: Ethan Lamb
Trumpet 4: Matthew Knight
Trombone 1: Lindsay Bush
Trombone 2: Jordan Boase
Trombone 3: Jules Aarnold
Bass Trombone: Frederick Johnston-Horstman
Guitar: Matthew Gaschk
Piano: Bob Tweedie
Bass: Cass Evans-Osharem
Drums: Ben Shelley
Musical Director: Dr Mace Francis
A special thank you to Jack Sirett on Trumpet 2

Recorded on the traditional Whadjuk Noongar boodja (land) by Kieran Kenderessy at Loop Recording Studio.
Audio visual equipment supplied by CCA Productions.
Filmed by Josh Wells Photography.

WAYJO extends its gratitude to our Government Partner the Department of Local Government, Sport, and Cultural Industries; Principal Partner North West Shelf Gas, Guest Artist Partner Minderoo Foundation, St John of God Health Care Tuesday Night Orchestra Naming Rights, Wright Burt Foundation, Bendat Family Foundation, Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, Simone Lee Foundation, and all of our private donors, Seat Sponsors, and 240 Club Members for their continued support.

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Jessica Carlton is a trumpet player and composer originally from Melbourne, Australia; now living in Perth.

Jessica graduated high school from the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music Performance (Jazz Trumpet) from Monash University (2015) where she was awarded the Monash Jazz Prize (2014). Later in 2014, she released her first album ‘Not Alone’ and with this was nominated for the Bell Awards’ Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year. After living in New York for two years, she moved back to Australia and moved to Perth for the first time in 2018. In 2021 she was nominated for the Music Trust’s Freedman Jazz Fellowship where she submitted a proposal about composing music about the feminist movement in China. Jessica recorded some of that music on a collaborative quartet album (with Kate Pass, Talya Valenti, and Alana Macpherson) entitled ‘Undeniable’ (released 2022). In 2022 she was also nominated for WAM’s Best Brass Instrumentalist.

Jessica received the higher degree by research scholarship at WAAPA and at the time, was undertaking a research project about musical ekphrasis (transforming visual art and poetry into music composition and improvisation).

She has been teaching trumpet for the past ten years and is passionate about good quality, empathetic, and equitable education for young students. As an autistic woman of colour, she is also deeply passionate about gender and racial equality, as well as disability inclusion and awareness, particularly in education and music performance.