Sydney-based saxophonist Sam Gill has won the 2025 Freedman Jazz Fellowship after a fiercely competitive round of performances at the ACO’s Pier 2/3 on 23 November. He earns $30,000 to support the creation and development of a major new project.

This year’s other finalists were vocalist Holli Scott, trumpeter Niran Dasika and pianist Wilbur Whitta.

Sam Gill. Photo supplied

With pianist Novak Manojlovic, bassist Christopher Hale and drummer James McLean, Gill offered an explosive, virtuosic set with three tracks from the 2025 album Sensemaker with his improvising quartet Coursed Waters.

Performing with trumpeter Jessica Carlton and guitarist Dom Barrett, Scott performed three original tracks from her 2024 album Weather and Weeds in a buttery alto.

Dasika delivered a dreamy set of processed trumpet with guitarist Lawrence Folvig and drummer Kyrie Anderson, and Wilbur Whitta performed a high-octane set with bassist Cameron Undy and drummer Alex Inman-Hislop.

An accomplished improviser and composer, Gill also leads quintet Scattered and is a member of the groups Microfiche and Mind on Fire. He has performed at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, IBeam Brooklyn in New York City, Phoenix Central Park and the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival, among others. Gill was also a finalist for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2023 and has earned two previous nominations.

Awarded annually, the Freedman Jazz Fellowship recognises an outstanding jazz musician under the age of 35; after a hiatus in 2024, the Fellowship now offers $30,000 – up from the $21,000 offered previously.

Past winners include Phillippa Murphy-Haste (2023), Tom Avgenicos (2022) and Hilary Geddes (2021). The 2025 judges were Andrea Keller, Emily Tulloch and Laurence Pike.

More about the Freedman Jazz Fellowship can be found here.