Interview with Gemma Farrell - Jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer

Gemma Farrell, another Fremantle connected creative, is a talented, and busy, musician, bandleader and composer.

And to prove it, she, with the Gemma Farrell Quintet, has a new album – her 9th and the Quintet’s 3rd – titled Electronic, coming out on 3 May 2024.

While Gemma typically performs on all four saxes, she has also mastered a more unusual instrument called the EWI, short for Electronic Wind Instrument, which features heavily on Electronica.

Gemma is one of those quiet achievers doing amazing things. As well as this being her 9th album, she also runs WA Youth Jazz Orchestra’s ‘Progressions’ Pathways Program, which was nominated for an APRA AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence in Music Education; was one of three finalists for the 2022 and 2023 Australian Women in Music Awards in the Humanitarian category; and was one of 16 Australian musicians nominated for the Freedman Fellowship Award in the Jazz Category in 2022.

On top of all that she teaches sax at WAPA!

You can see why our Editor, Michael Barker, was chuffed when Gemma Farrell agreed to sit down with him to record this podcast where we discuss her dedication to Jazz!

By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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