The Story So Far...
"Indispensable to New York's jazz scene."
Hot House Magazine, New York
"Cunningham’s tender clarinet work..epitomizes sophistication and grace."
DownBeat Magazine
"Adrian Cunningham's saxophone solo actually
had me making whimpering noises in the front stalls"
The Independent, London
"The Down Under Sax Star"
The Wall St Journal
"outstanding young jazz talent."
The Australian
"Adrian Cunningham’s clarinet playing saved the day for me."
The Star, Johannesburg
The list of world-class musical entertainers from Australia got a bit longer
when Adrian Cunningham arrived in the States"
St Pete Catalyst
New York based and Australian born Adrian Cunningham is an award winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, vocalist, and world traveler. With fluent command of the saxophones, clarinet, and flute, he is one of the finest multi-instrumentalists in jazz today.
In a career spanning two decades and counting, the "down under sax star" (Wall St Journal) has performed alongside luminaries such as Jon Batiste, Chris Potter and Wynton Marsalis, and has appeared as soloist in some of the world's great stages including New York's Carnegie Hall, Blue Note (New York and Toyko), Stravinsky Auditorium (Montreux Jazz Festival) and the Sydney Opera House.
Adrian is the recipient of the Hot House Saxophone Award (NYC), and his band Professor Cunningham and His Old School, is the winner of international band competition World Jam, (Madrid) and Best Band award at Harlem Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania).
Adrian's discography as a leader are too numerous to be listed, however his most acclaimed recordings within the last decade include Jazz Speak (w/Jeff Hamilton, John Clayton, Ted Rosenthal) and Play Lerner and Loewe (w/Fred Hersh trio, Randy Brecker), both of which broke the top 20 in the national jazz charts.
Adrian is a regular member of trombonist Wycliffe Gordon's quintet, featured at the London Jazz festival with a recording in Abbey Road studios alongside Wess Anderson, Reginald Veal and Herlin Riley. The quintet's performances span the globe: London Jazz Festival, Johannesburg Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Newport Jazz Festival; and regular performances in New York at the prestigious Dizzy's Club Coca Cola (Lincoln Center).
In 2013 Cunningham formed a tradtional/New Orleans style outfit called Professor Cunningham and His Old School has fast become one of the top bands in the international Swing scene, having performed at Blue Note Jazz Festival (NYC), Melbourne International Jazz Festival (Australia), Sopot Molo Jazz Festival (Poland), Snowball (Stockholm), SLOX (California), Blue Note Jazz Fest (NYC), CPH:LX (Copenhagen) and Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
From 2014-2017, Adrian was the leader of the saxophone section of the grammy-winning Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, a NYC based 1920's swing orchestra; responsible for the soundtracks for Boardwalk Empire and movies including the Aviator.
As a player on countless recordings, Adrian has recorded/performed with:
USA
Wynton Marsalis
Jonathan Batiste
Rene Marie
Fred Hersch
Randy Brecker
Chris Potter
Veronica Swift
Wycliffe Gordon
Geri Allen
Jeff Hamilton
Matt Wilson
Joe LaBarbera
Byron Stripling
Steve Jordan
Wes Anderson
Cecile Mclorin Salvant
Aaron Diehl
Bill Cunliffe
Bucky Pizzarelli
Jerry Lewis
Herlin Riley
Nate Smith
Adam Rogers
Reginald Veal
Debbie Reynolds
Bob Mintzer
Lew Soloff
Sweet Georgia Brown
Seleno Clarke
Harry Allen
AUSTRALIA
Powderfinger
The Cat Empire
Leo Sayer
(Johnny) Diesel
James Morrison
Don Burrows
Colin Hay (Men at Work)
Galapagos Duck
Ian Moss
Guy Sabastian
Tom Burlinson
George Coleman Jr.
Tim Freedman (Whitlams)
Cleo Lane & John Dankworth
Doug Parkinson
Paul McDermott
John Foreman
Swing City
Rhonda Burchmore
Monica and the Moochers
Marcia Hines
Caroline O'Connor
Sydney all Star Big Band
Anthony Warlow
Grace Knight
Daryl Somers
Jeff Duff
Australian Idol Band
