James Wengrow is a Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer from Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia. 

 

Fusing idioms while maintaining a distinguishable sonic personality, James has been described as “The perfect stop-over for curious rock fans looking to branch to jazz and vica 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.” 

 

In addition to leading the Avant-jazz outfit Crypsis Trio (with Mathias Jensen and James Paul Nadien), current projects James is involved with defy easy categorization: Dropbear Lodge, Xavier Del Castillo's The White Visitation (Prog-Metal Jazz-Fusion); Jonathon Crompton’s Cantata Project (16th-century classical practices with ambient improvisation); Brooklyn Qawwali Party (the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan); and has recent releases on labels 29th Street Editions, 4000 Records, Jazz in Meanjin and Amica Records. Other artists James has performed alongside include Hery Paz, Adam Neely, Ralph Alessi, David Ades, Allan Browne, Anna Webber, and Marike Van Dijk. ​