Mace Francis

Mace Francis (born 1978) is an Australian composer, band director, and academic.[1]

Mace Francis
Born (1978-08-23) August 23, 1978
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Instrument(s)guitar, trombone
Websitemacefrancis.com

Career

Francis 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
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

From 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
  1. "Mace Francis music @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz Musicians. 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. "An Interview with Dr Mace Francis – Perth International Jazz Festival and beyond - The Curb". 6 November 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. Zolin, Miriam (25 April 2013). "Nominations announced for the 2013 Australian Jazz Bell awards". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  4. Hardaker, John (25 November 2012). "CD Review: Mace Francis New York Nonet – Land Speed Record". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  5. Hardaker, John (7 October 2013). "Q&A | The Listen / Hear Collective – John Hardaker". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  6. Appleby, Rosalind (13 August 2020). "Big Band Birthday". Seesawmag. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. Fotakis, Nikolas (12 June 2016). "The 2016 Australian Jazz Bell Awards shortlist". AustralianJazz.net. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  8. "2015 Art Music Awards - winners". Australian Music Centre. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  9. "Jazz orchestra's history of success". Seesawmag. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  10. "Artistic Team". WAYJO. 22 April 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  11. Curl, Amy (13 October 2018). "PERTH JAZZ FESTIVAL LAUNCHES NEW SPRING PROGRAM". Jazz Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  12. "Big Band Composer Mace Francis to Release 'Isolation Emancipation' on November 26th - The Curb". 16 November 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  13. "KUČKA leads nominations for WAM Song Of The Year". The Music Network. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
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