Jed Danyel Kurzel (born 1976) is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and film composer. He is a founding member of

The Mess Hall The Mess Hall were a two-piece drums and guitar combo based in Sydney, Australia, specialising in "raw, edgy bluesy rock." The band consisted of Jed Kurzel (lead vocals/guitar) and Cec Condon (drums/backing vocals) for most of its tenure. The b ...

(from 2001), a blues rock duo. His older brother

Justin Kurzel Justin Dallas Kurzel (; born 1974) is an Australian film director and screenwriter. Early life Kurzel was born 1974 in Gawler, South Australia to a family of immigrant roots, his father hailing from Poland and his mother from Malta. His youn ...

is a film director and screenwriter.

Life and career

Kurzel was born in 1976 and, with his older brother

(born 1974), grew up in

Gawler, South Australia Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

. Their father, Zdzislaw Kurzel (1946–2006), was from Poland and had migrated to Australia in 1960, where he became a taxi driver. In the 1990s, Kurzel moved to Sydney, where Justin was studying at the

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

(NIDA). In 2001 Kurzel on lead vocals and guitar, Anthony Johnsen on drums and a bass guitarist formed a blues-rock group,

the Mess Hall The Mess Hall were a two-piece drums and guitar combo based in Sydney, Australia, specialising in "raw, edgy bluesy rock." The band consisted of Jed Kurzel (lead vocals/guitar) and Cec Condon (drums/backing vocals) for most of its tenure. The b ...

in Sydney – the bass guitarist soon left but was not replaced, they continued as a duo. Kurzel recalled "When the clubs asked us where our bass player was, we used to lie and say he was sick." Their debut album ''

'' was released in June 2003. In early 2004 Johnsen was replaced by Cec Condon on drums and vocals.Jed Kurzel
, thebabadook.com, access date 2 November 2015 Their third album ''

Devils Elbow Devils Elbow is the third album from The Mess Hall and was released on 27 October 2007. It peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums Chart. It provided a single, "Keep Walking", earlier in the same month. The album won the Australian ...

'' (October 2007) won the

Australian Music Prize The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was made by Australian Music Pri ...

. In 2000 Kurzel composed the film score for the short subject, ''Sammy Blue'', at the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establishe ...

, with

Kim Farrant Kim Farrant is an Australian film director best known for her work on '' Strangerland'', ''Angel of Mine'' and ''The Weekend Away ''The Weekend Away'' is a 2022 American thriller film directed by Kim Farrant from a screenplay by Sarah Alde ...

directing. He worked for Farrant again: providing the score for ''Naked on the Inside'' (2006), a feature film documentary on body image. In 2009 he composed music for ''Castor & Pollux'', a short film, directed by

Ben Briand Benjamin Briand is an Australian film director. Biography Ben is an Australian writer and director. In 2007 he wrote and directed ''Hammer Bay''. The TV film project featured two time Oscar nominated actress Jackie Weaver and was the result ...

. In 2011 Kurzel provided the music score for the directorial debut feature film by Justin, '' Snowtown''.Interview with Jed Kurzel
filmmusicmag.com, access date 2 November 2015 At the APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards of 2011 Kurzel won Feature Film Score of the Year. It was nominated for

Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Music Score The Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Music Score is an award in the annual Australian Film Institute Awards. Previous winners See also * ReferencesAfi.org.au – AFI Award Winners {{Australian Film Institute Awards M Film ...

. The related soundtrack album was nominated for

ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Album is an award presented within the Fine Arts Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres ...

in that same year. Kurzel also wrote the scores for ''

Son of a Gun Son of a gun is an exclamation in American and British English. It can be used encouragingly or to compliment, as in "You son of a gun, you did it!" Definition The ''Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary'' and ''Webster's Dictionary'' both defin ...

'', ''

Slow West ''Slow West'' is a 2015 Revisionist Western film that was written and directed by John Maclean in his directorial debut. It stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as a young Scotsman searching for his lost love in the American West, accompanied by a bounty hun ...

'' and the documentary ''

All This Mayhem Tasou Micah Pappas (born 1975), better known as Tas Pappas, is an Australian sponsored skateboarder. He was previously a professional skateboarder, primarily in the discipline of vert skateboarding, and competed in a number of major internation ...

''. In 2015, he worked again with his brother on ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', followed by ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is an open-world, action-adventure, and stealth game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice D ...

'' in 2016. He replaced

Harry Gregson-Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, ''Spy Game'', ''Phone Booth'', ...

as the composer of '' Alien: Covenant''.

Filmography

Film

Documentaries

Shorts

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, ''Snowtown'' , Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album , , ARIA Award previous winners.

External links

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurzel, Jed 1976 births APRA Award winners Australian film score composers Australian rock musicians Australian people of Polish descent Australian people of Maltese descent Living people Male film score composers Musicians from South Australia People from Gawler, South Australia