Hannah James is an Australian bassist, composer, band leader and educator based in Sydney.
As leader, she runs the Hannah James Trio (HJT) , ‘Hatch’ quintet and the 10 piece powerhouse ensemble Pharos.
She is a member of the feel-good New Orleans outfit The Crawfish Po’Boys, Fusion project “Energetic Zen Quintet, Mingus Amongst Us, leading Australian Big Band the Jazz Groove Mothership Orchestra, the award-winning cabaret “Lady Sings It Better”, Divergence Jazz Orchestra, Portuguese ensemble the Alma Orkestra as well as working extensively as a freelance artist in jazz, contemporary and musical theatre.
Hannah is a casual lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music – Jazz Faculty, a regular tutor for the SIMA young women in Jazz program developed by Dr Sandy Evans, bass tutor for UNSW, runs workshops in jazz composition and improvisation for high school students, teaches privately and in schools throughout Sydney including running a co-curricular music program at a leading selective school.
Credits include Jann Rutherford Memorial Award, working alongside Katie Noonan, Alister Spence, Sandy Evans, Ingrid and Christine Jensen (US/UK), Lakecia Benjamin (USA) Silke Eberhardt (ger), Helen Sung (USA), Don Burrows, Kevin Hunt, Sandy Evans, Angie Hart, Dean Manning, Lady Sings it Better and Matt Keegan amongst others and tours in and around Australia, Asia and the UK.