In 1998, Laurence and Kathy Freedman turned their love for Australian jazz and classical music into an opportunity to help talented young musicians realise their full potential. Now in its 16th year, the Freedman Fellowship final returned to Sydney on August 20.
After a series of live and improvised performances, the four finalists—Matthew Sheens, Aaron Choulai, Shannon Barnett and Gian Slater—were left waiting with baited breath until the following morning to find out who had won the 2014 fellowship.
After much anticipation, Choulai, a pianist, was announced as this year’s winner.
Jazz music and jazz musicians haven’t really used the internet in the same way or taken advantage of it yet because the recording process is quite different. We have to go to a studio and record and by the time you’re through recording a jazz album, you can’t afford to give it away for free.
For Choulai, the win means he can continue a career he’s been creating since his teens.
‘I used to have this regular gig at Bennetts Lane with Allan Browne and The Rolling Stones were in town, and the horn section from the came down one night—I would’ve been about 19 at the time—and they sat in a few times,’ he says.
‘They were there for a week and we played throughout that week. Then later one of their guys [Tim Reis] was like, “look, I’ve got a bunch of gigs at the Jazz Stand in New York do you want to come over and do them with me?”’
Choulai seized the opportunity of working in New York, recording a series of songs in between his live performances.
‘On the day before I left [Tim] was like, “how are we going to get this record out … why don’t we go see this guy at [Sunnyside Records]?” So I went and then they signed me on the spot to do a bunch of records. I finished school and moved over.’
After his time in New York, Choulai moved to Japan to begin a scholarship program at the Tokyo College of the Arts. He’s now based in Tokyo full time, and says it’s a world apart from the Australian cities he grew up playing in.
‘Japan is totally different from here. There are always three shows, one that starts at 2 pm, one that starts at 8 pm and one that starts at one in the morning. The reason for that is the trains, they do this on purpose.’
‘The trains stop at 1 am and Tokyo is a massive city—you’re not taking a cab home. So when the trains stop everyone just drinks until the next train. It’s a whole business. Some places won’t open until 1 am or 2 am and they’ll stay open ‘til 10 am and gigs are the same.’
‘There aren’t any restrictions in Japan. Not only are there no restrictions for people hanging out late at night, it’s really encouraged. That’s why they stop the trains, otherwise the whole industry would collapse.’
As well as Choulai, two of the other Freedman finalists call overseas home. Matthew Sheens is currently based in New York and Shannon Barnett in Cologne, Germany.
While many jazz musicians look abroad for opportunities to foster their careers, challenge the relationship between geography and success.
‘Being someone who’s moved around a lot already, I feel like I could do it anywhere, particularly now with the internet,’ says Choulai.
As well as his career as a jazz musician, Choulai also works with hip-hop producers in Melbourne, and has seen how effectively the internet is being used by musicians of other genres to disseminate their work.
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‘The process they go through before they release an album is pretty set in stone. You do a bunch of free releases, a big run up of online promotion and then the album. You’re essentially always releasing music and giving a lot of it away for free,’ says Choulai.
‘Jazz music and jazz musicians haven’t really used the internet in the same way or taken advantage of it yet because the recording process is quite different. We have to go to a studio and record and by the time you’re through recording a jazz album, you can’t afford to give it away for free.’
Choulai notes that while the internet has given audiences greater access to certain content, it has also proven detrimental to traditional forms of performance.
‘Back in the day you would make people aware of what you were doing by doing a regular gig somewhere,’ he says.
‘Nowadays there are less gigs around and particularly regular gigs are harder to get, so the internet sort of replaces that.’
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As the newest Freedman Fellow, Choulai plans to use this opportunity to bring jazz into the new online realm.
‘If you’re going to try and build up that loyal following of people that know what you’re doing all the time and are genuinely interested in what you’re doing, you have to do at least part of it through the internet and I think jazz musicians are really underrepresented there.’
Choulai will return to Japan after visiting Melbourne, and plans to begin recording his new material soon.
‘I’m still travelling a lot for work at the moment so it’s going to have to be fairly mobile,’ says the jet-setting musician. ‘It’ll probably be recorded a bit in Australia, Japan and the States.’
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