Australian trumpet player/composer/arranger Cam McAllister is an in-demand musician, both as a jazz trumpet player and composer for large ensembles. Cam is in the Royal Australian Navy Band in Melbourne and for 8 years was the Musical Director of the Royal Australian Navy Admiral’s Own Big Band while posted in Sydney. Cam has composed and arranged countless big band works ranging from high school level through to pro level contemporary jazz orchestras in Australia and abroad. Cam’s music is performed regularly throughout Australia and several of Cam’s compositions have been recorded, most recently on the Royal Australian Navy’s Admiral’s Own Big Band latest releases entitled Compositions and Straight Ahead. Cam is also a dedicated composer for concert/wind band and has composed and arranged several works in this idiom.
Cam was a finalist twice in the prestigious James Morrison Jazz Award on trumpet and was also one of 50 musicians handpicked worldwide for the 2008 Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music held in Canada, hosted by Dave Douglas.
Cam has performed with, among others: Hugh Jackman, Jimmy Barnes, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey, John Cleese, Petula Clark, Richard Carpenter, Mark Fitzgibbon Quintet, Ten Part Invention, John Paul Young, ATM15, The Bamboos, Electric Empire, The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, The Melbourne Jazz Orchestra, Bennett’s Lane Big Band as well as his own ensembles; the Cam McAllister big band and Cam McAllister sextet.
Cam has an already established, nationwide profile as a jazz musician, composer and arranger. He has independently funded and released his quintet/sextet’s album ‘Libran Balance’ for ‘Jazztracks’ on ABC Classic FM; recorded mixed and mastered by Mal Stanley. The album received critical acclaim, of particular note his songs White Knight, Waterfall and Clear which had “enduring appeal in [their] complex, interweaving patterns” (Herald Sun, 2008), with Cam himself recognised as a “talent deserving wider recognition” (Limelight, January 2008). The album made it as high as #1 spot on the iTunes Australia jazz charts.
Cam continues to compose and perform regularly throughout Australia with his own ensembles as well as a sideman with some of Australia’s finest musicians.