After seven years in Asia, Jessica Carlton returned to Melbourne in 2006 and began music study at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. In 2011, Carlton studied for one year at the Victorian College of the Arts before taking one semester at the Generations in Jazz Academy under Graeme Lyall.

In 2014, Carlton was invited to attend the School for Improvisational Music in Los Angeles and the NYU Steinhardt School of Music in New York. She recorded her debut album in May which was released on October 19th 2014, and performed at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival 2014 in November. Her album ‘Not Alone’ is now available on bandcamp.

Carlton is currently in her final year of a Bachelor of Music Performance course at Monash University . As part of this institution, Carlton has been fortunate to work with world-renowned musicians such as Maria Schneider, Charles Lloyd, Django Bates and others, including a performance of her award-winning original composition with Gerald Clayton at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival 2013.