BIO

James Wengrow is a Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer from Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia. Fusing idioms while maintaining a distinguishable sonic personality, James’ output has been described as “A sprightly collage of experimental jazz, heavy prog, math rock, and neoclassical music...The perfect stop-over for curious rock fans looking to branch to jazz and visa versa" (Bandcamp Daily), and “delving deep into territory that is as much Fugazi as it is [Miles] Davis... a blazing intensity to the heavier passages neatly offset by occasional moments of shimmering beauty” (Sonic Abuse).  Drawing similarities to Ornette Coleman and the Avant-garde, All About Jazz states “...[James’] music summons the same tumult, or at least the same clamor felt in the early 1960s... the spirit and energy of those times is unmistakable.” 

Crypsis Trio (with Mathias Højgaard Jensen and James Paul Nadien) is Wengrow’s main compositional outlet, with the debut album ‘Emissary’ set to be released in 2026 on New York jazz label Endectomorph Music. Other projects James is involved with defy easy categorization: Dropbear Lodge, Xavier Del Castillo's Counterforce (Jazz-Metal Fusion); Jonathon Crompton’s Cantata Project (neo-classical practices with ambient improvisation); Brooklyn Qawwali Party (the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), and Kinsmen & Strangers. Artists James has performed alongside include Hery Paz, Adam Neely, Kevin Scott, Mat Jodrell, Max Light, Allan Browne, Anna Webber, and Marike Van Dijk. Recent releases on labels 29th Street Editions, 4000 Records, Jazz in Meanjin, and Amica Records have been featured in Bandcamp's Album of the Week, Spotify's Classical Music Playlist, WKCR, ABC Radio National, ABC Classic FM, 4ZZZ Radio, The Saturday Paper, Forte, and Rhythms Magazine.

James studied at the Queensland Conservatorium and the Victorian College of the Arts before moving to New York and completing his Master’s degree at SUNY Purchase, where he was the recipient of the Graduate Award, the E&E Merit scholarship, and the Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant. Throughout his studies, James received mentorship in jazz guitar and composition from the late John Abercrombie, Vic Juris, and John Rodgers, all of whom the Crypsis Trio album ‘Emissary’ is dedicated to. Having taught at schools such as NYC Guitar School, Midori Foundation, and the Queensland Conservatorium, James regularly teaches private lessons in New York City and virtually.