From big band jazz to funk, rock, noise guitar, ambient sounds and dark country influences, you’ll hear it all on stage tonight as the Mace Francis Orchestra launches their 10th album – No Postcode.
Written over the past six years, the six tracks on ‘No Postcode’ have taken on many iterations before landing on this release – MFO providing the canvas for Mace to express his many different musical influences, harmonies, and orchestral colours.
MFO has had a long list of revolving members since the band began in 2004, but five of the original members remain including Ricki Malet, Ben Collins, Mark Sprogowski, Catherine Noble and Greg Benton.
Full of memorable melodies, intriguing harmonies, and solos from some of Perth’s best musicians, you’ll lose track of time as you listen to ‘No Postcode’, forgetting any worries of the day.
Line Up:
Saxes: Ben Collins, Gemma Farrell, Sean Little, Mark Sprogowski
Trumpets: Ricki malet, Matt Smith, Dusan Cuculoski
Trombones: Steve Bickley, Catherine Noblet, Rob Coleman
Guitar: Dan Garner
Bass: Alistair Peel
Drums: Greg Brenton
Composer/Conductor: Mace Francis
Mace Francis has established himself as predominant figure and advocate for original Australian big band music. Since 2004, Mace’s focus on composition has awarded him the 2004 APRA Professional Development Award, the international Italian composition prize Scrivere in Jazz, a finalist in the 2010 Freedman Jazz Fellowship, the 2015 winner of the APRA AMCOS Art Music Award: Jazz Work of the Year, received the 2017 Prelude Gallop House 12-month residency and the 2022 APRA AMCOS State Luminary Award (WA) for excellence in Artistic Direction and Composition in WA.
His Mace Francis Orchestra (MFO) have recorded 10 albums since forming in 2005, toured nationally four times (2006, 2008, 2010 & 2011) and performed with international artists Jim Pugh (USA), Jon Gordon (NY), John Hollenbeck (NY), Satoko Fujii (JAP), Theo Bleckmann (NY), Jean-Baptiste Bridon (France) and Ed Partyka (Austria). In 2021 he formed Mace Francis Plus 11 and recorded the album Isolation Emancipation.
Since 2013 Mace has worked internationally as guest composer and conductor with l’Orcehstre des Jeunes Jazzmen de Bourgogne (France), the Graz Composers Ensemble (Austria), the Showa University of Music Big Band (Japan) the Satoko Fujii Tokyo Orchestra (Japan) and nationally with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Jazz Orchestra (NSW), ATM15 (VIC), The Bennetts Lane Big Band (VIC), the Enthusiastic Musicians Orchestra (QLD), The Con Artists (QLD), The Keyboard Warriors (WA), The SA Superbands and the West End Composers Collective (QLD).
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