Bassist and composer Ursula Harrison, winner of BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024, didn’t have to cast widely for an influential exemplar: her mum, bassist Paula Gardiner, founder of the jazz course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, was on hand. But where the mother might cherish a definition of jazz with sturdy parameters, the daughter goes for more elasticity.
“I think the term ‘jazz’ carries a lot of baggage, both positive and negative,” Harrison said. “I usually avoid labelling myself as a jazz musician, as I don’t necessarily find it’s the best way to describe my music. Younger audiences are excited about new music, music that grooves, and improvised music. Jazz can be all of those things, but maybe sometimes our own definitions and distinctions get in the way of that.”
The music she makes is a world away from the jazz of the 20th century. In her programme for BBC Young Jazz Musician (BYJM) she wanted to showcase both the direction in which it’s headed and one way in which this is linked to the jazz tradition; hence her decision to perform Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil.
“Although I am constantly inspired by the jazz tradition, my musical world is totally different from that of jazz musicians of the past,” she said. “Growing up in the Rhondda valleys of South Wales is certainly a world away from New York! It makes sense for me personally to express myself by drawing on all my experiences. These include, in roughly equal amounts, jazz, pop, classical and folk.”
Harrison has also been inspired by her bass teachers – Yuri Goloubev and Jim Vivian. Goloubev was her tutor in the junior section of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in Cardiff, and Vivian while she was on a student exchange at the Memorial University in Newfoundland. She says their different approaches to the instrument gave her new perspectives so that she was able to develop her own way of playing.
Writing has always been central to her practice, and she’s drawn inspiration from contemporaries such as Kae Tempest, Marika Hackman and Justin Vernon. During her studies – she did a degree in music and mathematics at Cardiff University – many teachers influenced her writing, including Huw Warren, Laura Jurd and Reinier Baas. Now, she finds herself drawn to composing for specific players, an activity with rich antecedents in jazz. She’s currently studying for a masters degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
For some commentators, this immersion in the academic side of music-making would set players like Harrison apart from those who have gained most of their expertise on the road – an expression covering a lot of backgrounds and working environments but relegating college rigidities. One veteran UK jazz musician told me there was evidence of a bias among promoters towards newly graduated jazz musicians.
Be that as it may, Harrison’s mild unease at describing herself as a jazz musician and the way genres other than jazz feed into her creativity may be signals to where jazz per se is headed.
“Cardiff instilled a DIY attitude in me and real openness about how I wanted to write, perform and present my music,” she said. “In Amsterdam, I’m studying music from different traditions across the world and that’s expanding my horizons, both from a playing perspective and as a composer. Another benefit of the college jazz scene is that you meet so many like-minded people who are interested in playing similar music. Having the space in a conservatoire to try out new ideas and combinations of players is a massive privilege.
“The BBC competition opened up some new opportunities based in the UK, which is really exciting. I’m very happy to be able to keep working at home while I’m studying away. I’m excited to be releasing music with my band, Orbit Street, soon, as well as working on a few other projects. The competition has given me a boost of confidence and motivation to keep working on my own music. That can often be long and tricky.”
She thinks jazz is still pretty much male-dominated, at least in most places she’s experienced. But it was good to see lots of initiatives aimed at addressing the imbalance, as well as those amplifying queer voices in the genre.
“I’m sure that the more diverse the group of players in a scene,” she said, “the more various and interesting the music will become.”