GREG QUIGLEY - 50 YEARS IN JAZZ

Jazz Music Institute Founder and Australian Jazz educator, Greg Quigley has received the Jazz At Lincoln Center Global Citizen award in recognition of his 50 years of contributions to jazz.

The 2025 Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala, hosted by Dave Chappelle, brought together leading artists, educators, and supporters from around the world to celebrate the universal language and culture of jazz and its power to inspire, educate, and unite.

The Global Citizen award acknowledges Mr. Quigley’s extraordinary 50 years of service to jazz education in Australia, recognising a lifetime of dedication to nurturing young musicians and championing the growth of jazz across Australia and beyond.

Artistic Director of Jazz Houston, and 25 year member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Vincent Gardner presented the award to Mr. Quigley, saying:

“Here in New York it’s Wednesday, but in Brisbane Australia it’s already tomorrow. And that’s where our next global award recipient has been doing inspired work for over 50 years. This gentleman has been instrumental to shaping the Australian jazz scene, creating workshops and concerts, and bringing legendary artists such as Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Mulgrew Miller, and so many more.”

The Jazz Music Institute (JMI) in Brisbane maintains a strong and ongoing relationship with Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) in New York. A cornerstone of this relationship is Essentially Ellington Down Under, a national festival and workshop program that JMI has delivered in collaboration with JALC since 2014. The initiative has reached thousands of high school students and educators across the country, providing unique access to professional development and performance opportunities grounded in the jazz tradition.

The partnership reflects a shared commitment to excellence in jazz performance and education, and continues to build meaningful connections between Australia’s jazz community and the broader international scene.

Where it all began

Jamey Aebersold speaking at the first Summer Jazz Clinics

Greg’s vision and passion for jazz education had been developing since he was in his mid-20s. Greg was an aspiring trumpeter who had moved from Melbourne to Sydney with his wife and was intent on learning how to play jazz. In 1976, the Henry Mancini Orchestra toured Australia, led by the famous American jazz trumpeter Don Rader. Greg invited Don to join him in Sydney for a series of workshops that he was planning to organise. Much to Greg’s surprise, Don accepted the offer and the clinics were a great success. This was the beginning of a long journey in producing jazz education programs throughout Australia.

Following the success of the workshops with Don Rader, Greg travelled to the United States to get right to the source of the music. During this trip, Greg came into contact with Jamey Aebersold, a saxophonist who had developed a series of play-a-longs and was at the forefront of jazz education.

Upon returning to Australia, Greg decided he wanted to bring Jamey out to Australia to run a series of workshops in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide around Easter 1978. The workshops were hugely successful and the idea of the “Summer Jazz Clinics” was born.

The 1980 faculty feat. Woody Shaw & Randy Brecker (front)

In 1979, Jamey returned with 13 other jazz musicians to run summer jazz clinics and perform concerts across Australia. Greg continued to produce these clinics with some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time over a four-year period. Musicians to travel to Australia as part of these clinics included Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, John Scofield, Randy Brecker, Mulgrew Miller, Steve Turre, Rufus Reid, Bobby Shew, Dave Liebman, Terumasa Hino, David Baker and many more.

These clinics changed the landscape of the Australian jazz scene and had a significant impact on many young Australian jazz musicians at the time, such as Vince Jones, Sandy Evans, Craig Scott, Dale Barlow and Dave Panichi to name a few.

The Summer Jazz Clinics have continued throughout all these years, and are currently run in Brisbane and Canberra and led by JMI’s esteemed faculty that deliver the Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance program.

Jazzworx! the CD store

The front cover of The Improv Book Volume 1 written by Greg Quigley & Vince Genova

Many don’t know, but JMI – originally ‘Jazzworx!’ – was initially a specialist jazz CD store in the mid-1990s that operated out of half a house on Latrobe Terrace in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Paddington. This was in the days before internet shopping had become popular, where finding jazz CDs was quite difficult. Jazzworx! had a loyal band of customers that would come in to peruse the extensive CD collection. There was also an extensive collection of jazz education books and play-a-longs in store.

Shortly after opening, owner Greg noticed that a lot of customers were looking for educational materials to learn how to play jazz. As a result, Greg and pianist Vince Genova began working on a jazz improvisation method book and CD to use as a tool for learning to improvise. The “Jazzworx! Improvisation Method” was published in 1997 through Kendor Publishing and became a very popular learning tool, being endorsed by legendary guitarist John Scofield and renowned trumpeter Jeff Jarvis.

Based on the success of the “Jazzworx! Improvisation Method”, Greg decided to focus all his efforts in developing educational programs and applied to become a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) to deliver accredited courses in music that would focus on jazz and improvisation. Jazzworx! was approved as an RTO in 1997 and began delivering an Advanced Diploma of Music. After over 10 years of delivering a range of accredited vocational courses, Jazzworx! applied to become a Higher Education Provider and was accredited to deliver the Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance program in 2009. It was at this time that the business name was then changed to Jazz Music Institute (JMI). JMI became the only private Higher Education Provider in Australia to deliver a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance.