Harry Coulson
Harry Coulson is a Melbourne-based guitarist, composer and songwriter whose distinctive style comes as much from punk and blues as it does from the jazz idiom. He graduated from the VCA in 2010 with a Bachelor of Music Performance and completed his honours in the same at Monash University in 2012 as well as attending the summer jazz courses at NYU in the same year.
His debut album released in 2014 and produced by composer Jonathan Dreyfus was the essential album of the week on John Carvers “Across The Tracks” program on 3PBS and was awarded a Creative Victoria Grant for presentation costs in 2014. In 2015 he was the recipient of a TD Jazz Scholarship to attend the International Workshops in Jazz and Creative Music at the Banff Centre in Canada where he studied and performed with renowned artists such as Miles Okazaki, Ingrid Jensen, Mark Turner, Vijay Iyer, Harish Raghavan, Becca Stevens and Tyshawn Sorey.
His self-led, self-managed, self-produced and self-funded blues outfit Harry Coulsons Blue Dogs released their self titled album in 2016 and have graced the stages of the Bendigo Blues and Roots Festival, Eltham Jazz and Blues Festival and the Turning Wave Festival and were the backing band for Adam Hills at the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Opening Gala.
He has performed across Australia at events including the St Kilda Festival, Mornington Jazz Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, High Street Festival, and the Leaps and Bounds Festival. He toured to remote communities in the Kimberly and Pilbara regions with the Brad Martin Project in 2014 and as of 2015 has been a regular presenter for Music Maestros on ABC Statewide Drive with Nicole Chvastek.
He currently is in-demand for session and education work within his hometown of Melbourne and takes great pleasure in jumping between roles of songwriter, composer, bandleader, improviser, side-man, broadcaster, educator and general troublemaker whenever the pleasure takes him. He is continuously at work on a number of original projects but often gets distracted when it’s a nice day out or the surf is up...
Press
"Harry Coulson’s instrumental jazz trio of guitar, bass and drums draws from a wide array of influences. They bring the technical athleticism of their jazz chops, but flesh it out with a rocky, even post-rock listenability... one of the most approachable contemporary jazz records I’ve heard in ages."
(Chris Cobcroft – 4ZZZ)
"there is no room for unnecessary thought. Listeners will get wrapped up in the mission and they will know where they are going. Equally impressive and enjoyable, Coulson’s solo debut album is very welcome to its listeners."
(Sarah Prichard - Sydney City News)
"The disc, in my opinion, is eclectic and unusual, a real mix of jazz and blues influenced music, featuring some excellent musicianship. The guitar work is outstanding"
(Dave Anger – 2MCR)