"It's jazz. It's Australian. It's intimate. It's huge. It's how the songbook should be."
Denholm Brockley from Theatre haus, says.
Adam James’s The Great First Nations Songbook is “electric” and “compelling,” using the unlikely pairing of big band swing with First Nations musical heritage to create what Denholm Brockley describes as “a fundamental thread… facilitating a unity between disparate ideas to enhance each in kind.” James is a “fantastic vocalist, performer, and front-man” whose “joyous energy… through his performance mannerisms, small anecdotal segues, and audience interaction” transforms what could have been an impersonal concert into “the atmosphere of friends and family sitting around the living rooms going through their record collection and telling tales about songs that have personal meaning to them.” Standing before the exceptional Dreamtime Swingers, James acts as “a perfect conduit for audiences to interact with the music more directly,” making the show “viable to an audience well beyond those well versed in the language of jazz music.”
Beyond the spectacle, the show carries genuine intellectual and emotional weight. The use of big band jazz provides “an interesting dynamic for exploring the musical contribution of First Nations artists,” and the creative arrangement of works spanning more than half a century means the show “creates a carefully developed series of apparent contradictions that force a profound reckoning with how we see and consume Australian music.” Inspired by James’s desire to simply add “colour” to the notion of a Great Australian Songbook, the result is a performance that is simultaneously entertaining and deeply meaningful — “serious, but… entertaining and carefree.” As Brockley concludes: “It’s jazz. It’s Australian. It’s intimate. It’s huge. It’s how the songbook should be.”
Beth Keehn from Stage Whisperers, says:
“This show features 15 iconic First Nations songs, reworked by smooth singer Adam James, backed by a 13-piece jazz orchestra – and it is one of the most enjoyable evenings of Australian music you will ever experience. I absolutely loved every minute of it.
It was a family affair, with Adam’s Mum presenting the Welcome to Country, and dancing most of the night away just in front of the stage. It was wonderful and heart-warming to see so many of Adam’s family members in the crowd. This family connection to Quandamooka country (Moreton Bay) is the reason Redland Bay residents were lucky enough to see the world premiere of Adam’s show.”