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Graeme Norris began studying clarinet at age 9 and was a member of the Queensland Youth Orchestra Wind Ensemble from 1979 – 81. He commenced saxophone at 17, and completed an Associate Diploma in Jazz Studies from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1987. In 2011 Graeme attained a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from the Jazz Music Institute in Brisbane, Australia. Graeme moved to New York in 2012, and graduated from the Masters in Jazz Performance degree program at Manhattan School of Music in 2014, where he studied with Dave Liebman, Gary Smulyan, Garry Dial, Rich Perry, Bobby Sanabria and Jim McNeely. He has undertaken further study in the US with Jackie McLean, Barry Harris, and Grant Stewart.
In 1994 the Graeme Norris Quartet toured Indonesia and represented Australia at the Jakarta International Jazz Festival. Graeme has led bands at all major jazz festivals in Australia, and has also performed in Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Singapore. In New York he has performed at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Sounds of Brazil, The Cutting Room and Fat Cat
Artists he has performed and toured with include Candido Camero, Jerry Lewis, Eartha Kitt, Kenny Rogers, Frankie Valli, Nicky Parrott, Bobby Sanabria, James Morrison, Tom Burlinson, Jeff Jarvis, Don Rader and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Graeme has released three CDs as leader, and has featured on recordings by the Grammy nominated Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Emma Pask, EMO, Dan Quigley and the West End Composer’s Collective.
In 2014 Graeme joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College department. From 2004 – 12 Graeme taught at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane, Australia, and from 2008 – 12 at the Jazz Music Institute, also in Brisbane.