I did a concert not so long ago with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and James Morrison. James is truly a freak of nature when it comes to mastery of multiple instruments.

Guy Noble, Classical Music, JazzGuy Noble

I have a suspicion he might actually be an alien from a distant planet called Jazz, where the inhabitants can play trumpet, saxophone, flute, horn, trombone and piano and all at a supremely high level. It was a disappointment that he didn’t also do an oboe solo or rip out a few tunes on the harp, but you can’t have everything. It is also possible that James had his adrenal gland removed at an early age and stored in a cryogenic vat in case he needed it in the future, because I have never seen anyone so cool, calm and smiling before going out into the bear pit of the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House.

Maybe some of this comes down to the intrinsic differences between the world of jazz and the world of the classical musician. Jazz has its structure and forms too, but it is nowhere near as regulated as classical music because it...