Coursed Waters

Telepathic group interaction

Rhythmically-driving abstract grooves

Freedman Fellowship winning artistry

Blurring of complex composition and open improvisation

Coursed Waters features four of Australia's most creative improvising musicians, led by saxophonist & composer Sam Gill and featuring pianist Novak Monojlovic, Melbourne-based drummer James McLean and special guest Christopher Hale, also from Melbourne, on bass.

The band’s music is rhythmically-driven, moving seamlessly between moments of high energy and whispering calm, revelling in compositions featuring multi-layered rhythmic cycles, shimmering harmonies and sprawling melodic arcs.

Individually, the members of Coursed Waters are among the most decorated within the Australian jazz scene, with all four members being Freedman Jazz Fellowship recipients. The band's first album, Many Altered Returns (Earshift Music), received critical acclaim and garnered a nomination for the 2018 APRA AMCOS/AMC Art Music Award for Annual Excellence: Experimental Music.

In 2025, the band released their second album, Sensemaker (Earshift Music), presenting a suite of new compositions exploring the concept of sensemaking: how we understand and engage with the world around us, how we ascribe meaning to our life experiences, and how we co-create the world with those around us. The band undertook their first national tour in support of the release, playing well-received gigs at Brisbane International Jazz Festival and in Melbourne, Sydney and regional NSW.

Sam Gill is a saxophonist, improviser & composer based in Sydney, Australia. He leads the groups Coursed Waters & Scattered, is a member of the composer-performer collectives Mind on Fire & Microfiche, and has duo projects with Phillippa Murphy-Haste, Chris Abrahams, Simon Barker and Joseph Franklin. He has performed alongside a number of Australia’s most acclaimed improvisers including Andrea Keller, Marc Hannaford, Gian Slater and Scott Tinkler. Sam was a recipient of SIMA's Emerging Composers Mentorship in 2022, and was awarded the 2025 Freedman Jazz Fellowship.

"[Coursed Waters] is a masterful quartet, dexterous and fleet-footed... There are nods here to the radical counterpoint of Anthony Braxton's celebrated quartet, but Gill's Coursed Waters is its own breed, intent on making bold, original, and progressive music." - Des Cowley, Rhythms Magazine

"Sam Gill's new Sensemaker with his band Coursed Waters is one of the best things I've heard this year, and there are a hell of a lot of excellent recordings, so definitely colour me impressed." - Maurice Hogue, All About Jazz