Bass Lessons
Bass lessons at JWA are available with Jacques Emery (double bass and electric bass) and Dr Saul Richardson (electric bass). Lessons are held at our purpose-built studio in St Leonards centrally located on Sydney’s lower north shore, Monday to Saturday. Bass students are welcome at any age or level, whether you’re just starting out or looking to develop your jazz playing seriously. As well as private tuition, bass students have the opportunity to join a jazz combo, where they’ll develop their ensemble playing alongside musicians on other instruments.
The teachers
Jacques Emery and Dr Saul Richardson teach bass at JWA. Both are experienced jazz educators with strong professional and teaching backgrounds, and a long record of helping students achieve outstanding results. These include HSC Band 6, entry to leading conservatorium programs, and alumni now working professionally.
Enquire about bass lessonsJacques Emery — Double bass and electric bass
Jacques Emery is one of the most distinctive voices in Australian jazz. He is a bassist, composer, and bandleader whose body of work spans jazz, improvised music, and large-scale experimental performance. He teaches double bass and electric bass at JWA, working with students of all ages and levels across jazz, classical, and contemporary styles.
Jacques holds a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he received the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence, SIMA’s Jazz Star of Tomorrow award, the BBM Youth Support Award, and the Henderson Traveller’s Scholarship, which took him to Oslo, Berlin, and New York to study with leading improvisers. In 2020 he was nominated for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship. In his teens, Jacques was also a student at JWA.
In 2025, Jacques was a co-winner of the Art Music Award for Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music, one of Australia’s most significant recognitions in contemporary music, presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre.
His recent work reflects a move toward ambitious original composition and large ensemble leadership. His project The Wellspring — featuring some of Sydney and Melbourne’s finest improvisers — debuted at Phoenix Central Park’s Strata II festival and toured through 2025, including a live immersion performance at the Red Rattler for SIMA’s Jazz:NOW series. In late 2024, he performed a series of solo double bass sets at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, responding to the Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine exhibition.
Jacques is a core member of the ARIA-nominated Zela Margossian Quintet, the trio HEKKA, and collaborates regularly with the Australian Art Orchestra, with whom he has performed at major festivals in Berlin, London, and Melbourne. He serves as Associate Artistic Director of The Livingroom Theatre, where music intersects with multidisciplinary performance.
As a teacher, Jacques brings the same seriousness and care to his students that defines his performing work. Because the double bass is a physically demanding instrument, he pays close attention to posture and technique from the outset — using clear explanations and practical analogies to help students develop sound habits and avoid the neck, shoulder, back, and arm problems that poor technique can cause. He is an experienced and thoughtful teacher, and welcomes students at all ages and levels.
Dr Saul Richardson — Electric bass
Dr Saul Richardson is a jazz educator, guitarist, and bassist, and co-founder and Principal of Jazz Workshop Australia. He teaches electric bass, guitar, and jazz ensembles at JWA.
Dr Richardson holds a PhD from the University of Sydney, where his doctoral research examined what it means to be good at jazz and how that is taught and learned. Using Legitimation Code Theory as an analytical framework, the research identified a gap between common assumptions about jazz achievement — including the idea that it depends on innate talent — and the knowledge and skills that actually underpin strong performance. The work has been cited in international academic publications and contributes to a growing body of research in jazz pedagogy. He also holds a Bachelor of Education with First Class Honours from the University of Sydney, where he was awarded the University Medal in 1995. He studied jazz guitar with Steve Brien, Steve McKenna, and Dennis Keath, and conducting with Jerry Nowak, and has lectured in jazz pedagogy at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Dr Richardson has been teaching jazz since 1991. From 1991 to 2011 he established and led the jazz program at North Sydney Boys’ High School, which became widely recognised within Australian school jazz education. At JWA, he developed the jazz performance levels syllabus and directs the combos program and the annual Summer Jazz Camp. He has served as Australasian representative on the Executive Board of the International Association for Jazz Education and was a founding member of its NSW chapter. He has worked as a clinician, consultant, and adjudicator, and presents the YouTube channel Teaching Jazz, which explores jazz education and pedagogy for teachers, students, and interested listeners.
As a performer, Dr Richardson co-leads the Kansas City swing band Snap, Crackle, and Bop, the guitar duo MiSa Jazz Sydney, and the projects Tarro’s Ladder and ESP Device. He has performed throughout Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, working with leading Australian jazz artists including Don Burrows, John Morrison and the Swing City Big Band, Roger Frampton, and Tony and Bob Barnard.
His former students include award-winning and internationally performing musicians working across jazz and related fields. A selection can be found on the JWA alumni page.
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