Jason Whatley

Jason Whatley is a jazz pianist and composer based in Tasmania, Australia. His compositions admit the unmistakable influence of great jazz modernists like Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and Wayne Shorter. He leads a quintet featuring fellow Tasmanian musicians Michael Woods (trumpet/flugelhorn), Damon Warner (saxophones), Hamish Houston (bass) and Beau Thomas (drums). He has released two albums with this lineup, Newfound Cool (2013) and On the Beak (2020).

Jason Whatley: On the Beak

Read "On the Beak" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 8, 2021

If Australia is “The Land Down Under," then Tasmania could be called “The Land Way Down Under,' a thumbprint of a main island cut adrift from the southern hemisphere's one country continent about 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, to sit off the south western corner of the state of Victoria, not too far from Antarctica. An isolated land with a population of about 550,000 that doesn't get a lot of airtime on ...

Primary Instrument

Piano

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

My teaching background isn't extensive. I've taken some adult students in more recent years, mainly people from a sight-reading background who want to learn more about contemporary harmony and improvisation. They've typically found the lessons somewhat illuminating.