Leigh Carriage

Leigh Carriage is an Australian vocalist, educator and songwriter. Her festival performances include the Monterey Jazz Festival, Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival, Melbourne Women’s Jazz Festival, Brisbane International Jazz Festival and the Brisbane Festival. Carriage's 2013 album Mandarin Skyline, mixed and mastered by Grammy Award winner Helik Hadir, was nominated for a National Australian Jazz Bell Award, and Weave (2016) won NCEIA Album of the Year.

Carriage is a senior lecturer in the Contemporary Music Program at Southern Cross University, where she has specialised in vocal pedagogy and ensemble direction since 1998. Since 1999 Carriage has coordinated a Visiting Artists mentoring program for Women in Contemporary Music, and the APRA Songwriting Workshop Series for the past 15 years. In 2009, Carriage was awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning by the Vice Chancellor, and in 2019 she was nominated for an Impact Award for Professional Service. She was awarded a PhD in Composition at Sydney Conservatorium of Music for a dissertation that broadly encompassed her research interests in composition, performance, improvisation, collaboration and recording.

Discography

as leader

• Weave (2016): Independent - finalist in five categories in the NCEIA Dolphin Awards and winner of Album of the Year & the Jazz Category Review
• Mandarin Skyline (2013): Vitamin Records - (national and international reviews).
• Get Out Of Town (2012): Vitamin Records
• On Impulse (2006): [Live]: Independent reviewed in ABC Limelight Magazine (October Issue, 2006) by John Shand.
• Until (2004):Independent
• Liquid (2000): Independent

as contributor

• Jo Jo Smith, Live At The Blue Birdy (2009)
• Carl Cleves, Before Twilight Turns to Night (2018)

Publications

Book chapters

• Heartlands: Kasey Chambers, Australian Country Music and Americana in Outback and Urban: Australian Country Music Volume 1. Australian Institute of Country Music Press: Gympie Queensland Australia

Journal Articles

• Carriage, L. (2019) Hybridity in the Music of Youn Sun Nah: Directions in Jazz Vocal Style, Australian Voice, Vol. 20, p.1–7.
• Carriage, L. (2008) Southern Cross welcomes Katie Noonan, Voice of Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing, Vol. 21, no. 2, p. 4–5.
• Carriage, L. (2000) The Experience of Contemporary Australian Female Vocalists: An Exploratory Study. Australian Voice. 6: 31–36
• Carriage, L. (2018) Can Anyone Learn To Sing? For most of us the answer is yes. The Conversation The Conversation: In-depth analysis, research, news and ideas from leading academics and researchers. May 14, 2018

Festival Performances

• Monterey Jazz Festival, California, USA.
• Spiegeltent, Brisbane Festival, Queensland, Australia.
• Brisbane International Jazz Festival, Queensland, Australia.
• Creative Jazz Auckland, New Zealand.
• Woodford Folk Festival, Queensland, Australia.
• Bangalow Music Festival (with Southern Cross Soloists), New South Wales, Australia.
• Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Victoria, Australia.
• Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival, Victoria, Australia.
• Melbourne International Women’s Jazz Festival, Victoria, Australia.
• Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia.
• Manly Jazz Festival, New South Wales, Australia.