Moochin' About presents...A HISTORY OF JAZZ IN AUSTRALIA

An authentic original recordings take us back to 1925 and the beginnings of jazz in Australia.
Which includes 60 years of playing from musicians who have made Australia one of the top jazz nations.

INTRODUCTION
One evening, towards the end of 1916 when the Maitre D of the famed Reisenweber's Restaurant in New York stepped into the middle of the dance floor
and announced to the bemused audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, this music is
for dancing," he ensured that jazz would henceforth be regarded as dance music.

It was not for another twenty years that it severed itself from that bondage moved into the concert hall to be hailed as an art form. The band playing on that
historic night in New York was the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, a five piece outfit which had arrived in New York from New Orleans via Chicago.
In Chicago they had been playing in a gangster-controlled night club called The Casino Gardens for $25.00 per week per member. Many had visited
the club to hear this wild, unusual music. Such people as Fanny Brice, Bert Williams and Will Rogers were regulars. A young Al Jolson also visited the club
and was SO taken with the music that when he returned to New York he persuaded his agent to have the Original Dixieland Jass Band booked into the up-market
Reisenweber's Restaurant which was situated on Columbus Circle and boasted no less than seven dance floors.

The band's salary was boosted to $150 dollars per member but even at that they were permitted to play only two numbers each night while the resident
salon type orchestra was having a break for supper. Their music was new to the New York audience. It was also frightening, and the audience had no idea how
to deal with it. Originally hired for two week's trial, on the final night of their engagement they were moved on to open the new "400" Club where this time they
were to do all the playing.

The New York audience had remained glued to their chairs until the manager had made the announcement detailed above. The band then played
slow blues. One adventurous couple moved on to the floor and eventually were gingerly followed by others. The room was soon rocking to the beat of Tiger
Rag and the sounds of a delighted audience who were gaily improvising new dance steps to the wild New Orleans sound. Jazz had officially arrived in the Big Apple.
Reisenweber's did not constitute the world. It took the gramophone record to accomplish that. The American Columbia company heard about the
band and invited them to record in their studio So, on 29 January 1917 the Original Dixieland Jass Band put down two sides for Columbia. Shocked by this
outlandish music the Columbia executives shelved the two sides and tore up the contract.
Undeterred by this event the Victor Talking Machine Company, who until that time had been more interested in recording such people as Enrico
Caruso and Nellie Melba, took over the O.D.J.B. and on 26 February 1917 recorded Dixie Jass Band One Step coupled with Livery Stable Blues. On 5 March
1917 this became the first jazz record to be released anywhere in the world. It also became the first record to sell more than one million copies.

American Bands in Australia
It took three years for the Original Dixieland Jass Band's 1917 record to reach Australia and there is evidence that the first copies were imported in 1920.
No record pressing plant existed in Australia at that time and all records were imported. The original "jass" had become "jazz", and was now in wide use. The
new name was being applied to nondescript dance outfits, all of which featured a wide variety of instruments. Some even featured a conductor; and, while most
of the so called "jazz" bands used that name, many were more akin to vaudeville outfits performing on the stages of variety theatres of the day.

From 1918 on, there were number of bands in Australia calling themselves jazz bands: Billy Romaine's Jazz Band, Bert Howell's First Society Band, and The Syncho Jazz Band were three of the more prominent.
Belle Śylvia claimed the honour of being Australia's first jazz band.
The quality of their music may be judged by quoting from an entry in a Fuller's theatre program for June 1918 describing the music played by the band:

SEE THAT CRAZY DRUMMER. SEE THAT DIPPY FIDDLER.
SEE THAT PERKY PIANIST. HEAR THAT FARMYARD JAZZ
MUSIC THAT WAFTS YOU TO THE COUNTRY!"

The music was also described as "introducing the most curious
of musical ideas the height of eccentricity." One of the most notable of the early bands was Linn Smith's Royal
Jam Band. It was a five-piece outfit with an instrumental grouping of piano, saxophone, trombone, violin and piano. The band started out as a dance band but it quickly became a first class vaudeville outfit with very little to do with jazz.
Linn Smith describes the player's antics during a performance on a ferry one night on Sydney Harbour: "Curnick (violin) went in amongst the audience
and danced like a fairy; Jeacle (saxophone) climbed the funnel; Meredith (trombone)
did something else and Cope (drums), hung by his toes from a rafter and played
drums upside down".
The band was given a trial by the Fuller organisation at the National Theatre in Sydney and their opening night was such a success that it
was immediately signed to a twelve month contract, later extended for a further twelve months.

The first bands to sound anything like the dance bands that we eventually came to know, were all brought in from America. In 1923, Frank
Ellis and his Californians were at the Palais Royal; Bert Ralton and his Savoy Havana Band were at the Ambassadors in Sydney. When Ralton departed at the end of twelve months, his pianist, Fred Saatman and his banjo player, Dave Wallace stayed on and three saxophone players were brought in from America. The band was completed by the bass player and drummer coming across from the Palm Court Orchestra which entertained diners during the lunch and dinner periods at the establishment.
In 1925, Ray Tellier and his San Francisco Orchestra opened the Palais de Danse at St. Kilda, Melbourne. Tellier's band was entirely American and
enjoyed a very long run at the Melbourne Palais. One of its members, banjo player Eugene Pingitore, the brother of the famous Paul Whiteman banjo player Mike
Pingitore, settled in Australia when the Tellier band finally came to the end of its marathon run. It has to be noted that these bands were not called jazz bands. This term was still strictly limited to bands performing in the vaudeville houses.
Ray Tellier's group is generally considered to have been one of the first dance bands to record in Australia, having made recordings for the Condor label
in 1925. It later recorded in Sydney for Columbia in November 1926. However, Ray Tellier's band was not the first American dance band to be brought
to Australia. That honour went to Frank Ellis and his Californians who opened at the Sydney Palais Royal on 4 May 1923. Tellier opened at the St. Kilda Palais de
Dance in May 1925.

Band were at the Ambassadors in Sydney. When Ralton departed at the end of twelve months, his pianist, Fred Saatman and his banjo player, Dave Wallace
stayed on and three saxophone players were brought in from America. The band was completed by the bass player and drummer coming across from the Palm Court
Orchestra which entertained diners during the lunch and dinner periods at the establishment.
In 1925, Ray Tellier and his San Francisco Orchestra opened the Palais Danse at St. Kilda, Melbourne. Tellier's band was entirely American and
de enjoyed a very long run at the Melbourne Palais. One of its members, banjo player Eugene Pingitore, the brother of the famous Paul Whiteman banjo player Mike
Pingitore, settled in Australia when the Tellier band finally came to the end of its marathon run. It has to be noted that these bands were not called jazz bands. This
term was still strictly limited to bands performing in the vaudeville houses. Ray Tellier's group is generally considered to have been one of the first
dance bands to record in Australia, having made recordings for the Condor label in 1925. It later recorded in Sydney for Columbia in November 1926. However,
Ray Tellier's band was not the first American dance band to be brought to Australia. That honour went to Frank Ellis and his Californians who opened
at the Sydney Palais Royal on 4 May 1923. Tellier opened at the St. Kilda Palais de Dance in May 1925.
 
Sid Simpson was an alto saxophone player and the leader of the band which played at The Wentworth Cafe. The Wentworth Cafe was part of the
Wentworth Hotel which was situated on Lang Street, Sydney. The site of the old hotel is now occupied by the QANTAS building; the Wentworth having moved
to its present site in Phillip Street. Simpson's band featured a number of top Sydney musicians. Among
them were Harold Barlow, a fine trumpet player, trombone player Harry Larsen (who later moved into the Sydney Symphony Orchestra), saxophone player Sam
Babicci and pianist Harry White. As Americans dropped out of the bands in Australia, local jazz musicians joined them; and by the time Frank Ellis's band
(now known as The Palais Royal Californians) recorded at Homebush, it contained a number of Australian musicians, including Frank Coughlan playing
trombone, Ern Pettifer playing clarinet, Dave Grouse playing saxophone and Bob Waddington playing bass.
The original Frank Ellis band, known as Frank Ellis and his California Jazz Band, opened at the Palais Royal on 4 May 1923. Its members came from the
famous Art Hickman band which had played at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. When Ellis returned to America with a number of the players,
leadership was taken over by Walter Beban (who played saxophone) and the departed Americans were replaced by the aforementioned Australian musicians.
During the period from August to November 1926, The Palais Royal Californians recorded eight sides at Homebush but only two were ever released.
Milenberg Joys is an excellent example of the work of this band. Most of these bands were mainly dance outfits playing from printed
scores, allowing for a certain amount of latitude granted to the soloists to improvise choruses within the framework of the arrangement. It was not until
1933 that an Australian band recording compared in any way with the organised teamwork of the top American bands.

Al Hammett's Ambassadors Orchestra
One of the first of the all- Australian bands to record at the new Homebush studio was Al Hammett's Ambassadors Orchestra. The Hammett band was featured for several years at the Sydney luxury night-club, The
Ambassadors, which was situated in Sydney adjacent to the Strand Arcade. It had two ballrooms, one of which ultimately became the well-known Chequers night
club with its entrance in the arcade.
Al Hammett took his band to Homebush in December 1926 and recorded, among other titles, How Could Red Riding Hood. For the session, trumpet player Bert Heath, brother of the English band leader Ted Heath,
came into the band and is featured on this track in a good solo. The band also featured a good saxophone trio which included Abe Romain who later became one
of Australia's leading band leaders and who played for some time with the Jack Hylton band in England.



Jim Davidson
Jim Davidson, a jazz lover for many years and himself a talented drummer, had well-absorbed the lessons he had learned from listening to his large
record collection. His five-piece band at a Sydney night club was purely jazz- oriented and, as he has written, "on some afternoons our audience was almost
entirely of musicians...". In 1933, he enlarged the band to ten pieces for a concert and its performance so impressed entrepreneur. C. Bendrodt, that he engaged
the Davidson band for the 1933 dance season at the Palais Royal. It was one of the best so far heard in Australia. Davidson was quickly contracted and was soon recording for Columbia at Homebush.
The first session took place on 6 June 1933. The band showed its mettle with what can only be described as a swing band performance at least three years
before the word "swing" came into general usage via Benny Goodman, but only on one track, of course. However, the Australian recording industry was not yet fully
geared to accept jazz as a viable product for public sale. In fact, the word "jazz" was still of doubtful parentage and was continually equated with "classical", the former
always branded as the poor relation. So Jim Davidson sneaked in a swinging performance of the hit tune of the
day, Forty Second Street, coupled with its companion hit, Shuffle off to Buffalo. It had precision, good solos and swinging rhythm. What is more
important, it was the first pure big band style jazz recording to come out of a major studio in Australia.
Even though the record sold many thousands of copies (mainly because of Shuffle Off to Buffalo, it must be confessed), the recording moguls
did not show any inclination to venture into the recording of jazz. Davidson managed bring in another one in November 1933 with his recording of Original Dixieland
to One Step but no other jazz opus came from him again until 1938.

Frank Coughlan
Frank Coughlan had taken a magnificent band into the new Sydney Trocadero in April 1936 but unfortunately this band was never recorded. By
the time Coughlan had made a private recording of his great arrangement of Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing and some other recordings
for the small Prestophone label in 1937, there had been considerable changes in the band's personnel. It can only be observed that the preservation of Australian jazz
on record suffered a great loss in that early period by the non-appearance of the Coughlan band in the general market place.

Dudley Cantrell
In the meantime, the recorded jazz scene remained relatively quiet. Cantrell and his Grace Grenadiers made
at a Homebush in November 1937. The great trombone player, Dudley Cantrell,
who had led the band for several years at the graduate of the Jim Davidson band
Grace Brothers Auditorium at the firm's Broadway store in Sydney, was also a fine
an arranger. Harlem Heat is a good example of his work both as arranger and an instrumentalist.: With him in the band were his two brothers:
Peter, who also came from the Davidson outfit and Bert. Bert's daughter, Lana,made a great mark in the United States where she recorded for RCA.

Graeme Bell Melbourne recordings, In 1940,
the centre of Australian jazz 1944 moved to Melbourne where the pianist Graeme Bell and his band began to play jazz and make recordings. They
were motivated by a desire to create jazz as they imagined it would have sounded when it was played by the early masters in New Orleans. As Graeme has said
in himself, they found the dance music being played by the palais type dance bands Melbourne, most unsatisfying and in no way resembling the music they were
hearing on the records coming in from America.
It was not until 1944 that any of the Bell band recordings were issued.
Melbourne lawyer, William H. Miller began issuing records on his Ampersand
label. The first release, Ja Da was made by a band led Graeme's trumpet- ·playing brother Roger, under the name of Don Roberts' Wolf
Gang. This notable recording featured the great American trumpet player, Max Kaminsky, who was in Australia with the U.S. Navy Rangers band led by
Artie Shaw. The technique and the recording could be said to be a trifle rough, but it was the beginning of an era where the emerging talents of improvising
jazz musicians began to be recognised world wide.

In 1944, Graeme Bell, who was to become one of the most durable figures in Australian jazz, made his first set of recordings under his own name
in Melbourne for the Ampersand label. Although, only one title from the historic session, Georgia Bo Bo was released, it presaged a distinguished
career as a jazz musician which has endured until the present day.
It should be noted that this was strictly improvised jazz using the classical
instrumentation of the early jazz bands who began in the beginning years of
the century in New Orleans. Hitherto in Australia, most jazz had been played by large bands working from arrangements.

Burrows Sydney recordings, 1945
The first free improvised session to be made at Homebush was that of July 1945 when George Trevare assembled a group to record six Australian
compositions. The session was notable for it was the recorded debut of the great Australian jazz musician, Don Burrows. At that time, he was only sixteen years
of age. Also featured were Wally Norman, one of our best trumpet players, Rolph Pommer, playing alto saxophone, and a most interesting pianist, Pat Lynch.
The session created quite a furore among the jazz intelligentia of the day. Many were outraged. "These records" they said, "are the work of professional
musicians who have no knowledge or feeling for the true sound of jazz as it should be played." The debate raged far and wide in the columns of the popular music
magazines of the day. In spite of this debate as to the relative merits of the music,
the recordings still featured good solo work by musicians who were totally in sympathy with what they were called upon to do, and who endeavoured to instil into their performances the true spirit of the music. In fact, Don Burrows was so excited at being invited to take part that he arrived at Homebush without any reeds for his clarinet. He had forgotten to bring them with him and managed to play the
session with a reed which he borrowed from Rolph Pommer.

All the tunes recorded were of Australian origin. They ranged from The Bells of Saint Mary's to Waltzing Matilda. Of the six songs, Back to Croajingalong
was one of the best.

Graeme Bell Sydney recordings, 1947
It was not until 1947 after much lobbying that the Bell band was invited record at Homebush. There had been a total lack of interest in what was going
on in Melbourne. In fact, it could almost be labelled as disbelief. One of the top American jazz critics had written to the Columbia management urging them
to record the Graeme Bell band "which could well be classified as one of the best in the world." All to no avail.
However, just prior to the band departing for Europe on its first overseas tour, the authorities relented, and Graeme and his band were invited to present
themselves at the Homebush studios for a recording session. The six sides, recorded on 11 April 1947, are still some of the best of the
re-early traditional jazz recordings made in Australia. Indeed, four of them were issued on a Graeme Bell album in mid- 1987 and Smokey Mokes even became a popular hit and sold many thousands of records.

Ade Monsbourgh (multi-instrumentalist)
This Graeme Bell session of April 1947 marked a turning point in the in recording of Australian jazz. That same year also marked a great improvement
the recording techniques of the many independent record companies that sprang into being. Ampersand in Melbourne was still issuing excellent performances.
Ade Monsbourgh was one of Australia's greatest multi-instrument men and one of the few jazz musicians with a feeling for the vocal side of the art. As well as recording on many of the Graeme Bell records he also made many under his own name. He was an excellent composer and one of his best works is The Jazz Parade which he recorded for Ampersand in June 1947 and which subsequently
has been recorded by a number of other bands.

Dave Dallwitz and the Southern Jazz Group, 1946
It was at this time that the centre of Australian jazz expanded west and north to Adelaide and Sydney respectively. In Adelaide there was the Southern Jazz
Group led by another of the founding fathers of Jazz in Australia, Dave Dallwitz. In early 1946 he collected a group of enthusiastic players which included
young Errol Buddle playing alto saxophone. Errol Buddle went on to become one of Australia's finest jazz players and he also made a great name for himself
playing in many bands in the United States. The band took the name of The Southern Jazz Group. Its first two records were never released and it was not until
April 1947 that the band made its first notable appearance on a new record label, Memphis. They continued to record for Memphis until 1949 when they switched
to the Sydney Wilco label. In this collection, the recording of Red Hot Henry Brown
by The Southern Jazz Group was the initial release by Wilco Records. Dave Dallwitz like Graeme Bell, were still active in the jazz movement
(1990); and the final track on the collection, Wagga Wagga, recorded by Dallwitz in June 1989, demonstrates that this particular master has not lost his touch.

The Port Jackson Band
In Sydney there was The Port Jackson Jazz Band, a pioneering group which in its original form was organised by trumpet player Ken Flannery and
trombone player Jack Parkes. It began its recording career in 1945 but, even though it was constituted as a permanent group, it did not achieve regular releases
recordings until 1948. By 1957, the Port Jackson Jazz Band had achieved the status of recording in a major studio and its personnel had changed completely.
It was now directed by guitarist Ray Price and with him were some of Australia's best on soloists. These included Bob Barnard on trumpet, Johnny McCarthy
trombone, Dick Hughes at the piano and Harry Harman playing bass and tuba. I'm Confessin' is from an album of twelve tracks recorded for EMI in November, 1957.

Les Welch Boogie Woogie
Les Welch made his mark on the Sydney scene by adopting the boogie woogie style of piano playing. Boogie woogie became the rage following a classic
recording, Honky Tonk Train Blues, by Meade Lux Lewis in 1935. After the end of World War II Les Welch took it up and his recording of King's Cross Boogie made in July 1948 was the first in a long recording career that
extended to 1972.

Frank Coughlan (1950)
Frank Coughlan, always recognised as one of the masters of Australian jazz, made a lifetime career as a professional musician. He played in the earliest
the Australian bands and recorded with the Palais Royal Californians in 1926. Most of his playing in public was with large bands but in 1950, with a small group
from his Trocadero orchestra, he made a series of small band recordings of which That Da Da Strain is a good example.

Rex Stewart, cornet player with Duke Ellington's Band
The great Duke Ellington cornet player, Rex Stewart, spent some months Australia in 1949 during which he toured with Graeme Bell's band and also
in made recordings under his own name. In Sydney in November 1949, he recorded with a modern jazz group (Jack Allen's Katzenjammers) a session of six sides from
which Oh! Lady Be Good is taken. In December of the same year in Melbourne, he recorded six sides for the Jazz Art label.

Frank Johnson's Fabulous Dixielanders
Whilst the Graeme Bell band was acknowledged as the leading group in Melbourne, other bands were also performing there. One of the best was that
of Frank Johnson and his Fabulous Dixielanders. The band included a group of dedicated jazz musicians one of whom, Warwick Dyer, made records under
his own name. Daily Jazz features the full Johnson band while Warwick Dyer leads a small contingent from the band in Ice Cream.

Jazz in Tasmania
In addition to the Australian mainland states, there was great interest in jazz in Tasmania. Tom Pickering, an excellent clarinet player, organised
the Barrelhouse Four in 1946; by 1949, it was recording as The Barrelhouse Jazz Band with a traditional seven piece line-up. Whilst Tom Pickering made other
recordings under his own name, the session which produced Ole Broke -Up Stomp
was the only one featuring the full band.

Graeme Bell Sydney recordings, 1952
Back from England in 1952 following a very successful tour, the Graeme Bell band went into the studios in Sydney and recorded Ian Pearce's rousing Nog's March

The Paramount Jazz Band
Two members of the Sydney Swing Music Club, Ian Cuthbertson and Bob Learmonth organised the Paramount Jazz Band in Sydney in 1954. In 1956
they recorded their first major studio recording from which session this recording of Louis Armstrong's S. O.L. Blues is taken. Along with the Port
Jackson Jazz Band's recording of I'm Confessin' it brings this, the early period of Australian jazz to a close.

The Australian All Stars
It was not until the 1950's that modern-style jazz began to make its mark were on records. In Sydney it evolved around a hard core of musicians who
dedicated to the playing of jazz and who were fortunate enough to be employed in night clubs where it was tolerated and indeed encouraged by the management.
In a poll conducted by The Australian Music Maker in 1957 a group of these musicians came out on top and were recorded as The Australian All Stars.
Included among them were Don Burrows, Frank Smith, Terry Wilkinson and Freddy Logan, all of whom were to make their mark as leaders in their chosen style
of music. Ockeration was one of the original works they recorded in July 1957.
Out of this group came a quintet which through 1959 and 1960 recorded a series of twenty-seven tunes and also accompanied the American singer
Russ Arno when he visited Australia in June 1959. Ka-link is a good example of the work of this outstanding group.

Visiting American bands
It was in the 1950's that the Lee Gordon organisation began operations of Sydney. Lee Gordon became the Sydney end of an American trio
entrepreneurs who were to re-organise the local entertainment scene. They notified Australia that they intended to bring in, not only the greatest of the popular artists
in the day, but to include among their artists, the greatest of jazz musicians. Their first jazz importation was Artie Shaw. It had been difficult
to bring in the top line artists for short periods. This was due to the lack of venues large enough to warrant bringing in visiting artists who could not be away from
their home bases for more than a couple of weeks. It was generally thought that the
maximum audience that could be generated in the state capitals was two to three thousand.
.
 
The Gordon organisation took advantage of the speed of air travel which had now been established across the Pacific by fast land-based aeroplanes and
the availability of the Sydney Stadium, a venue previously used for boxing bouts. The Stadium could accommodate over thirteen thousand persons and at two shows
on any one day a possible audience of twenty-six thousand could be expected for the visiting artists.
Artie Shaw had previously visited Australia with his American Navy Band in 1943. On that occasion he had been performing for American service
personnel based in Australia and not for the general public. The band was a fine one. Included among its members were trumpet players Johnny Best and Max
Kaminsky; tenor saxophone player, Sam Donahue, who afterwards led his own orchestra; and in the rhythm section, the incomparable drummer, Dave Tough.
For his second visit, Artie Shaw had an all- Australian band and quickly impressed upon them his tough method of working. His final rehearsal
went all night until eleven next morning. Terry Wilkinson, the pianist described it as the cruellest session he had ever endured. But he added that he would not have
missed it for worlds.
There was a procession of top name bands following the Shaw experiment. Lionel Hampton brought his entire outfit. So did Duke Ellington.
The Ellington band when it came was no longer the band of the 194Os generally said to have been its greatest period. Louis Armstrong brought his All Stars. Louis
by now had become more of an entertainer rather than the innovator of the Hot Five and Hot Seven days of the Twenties. His programs, arrangements, even
his solos, were practically identical. In addition, he was very tired and was suffering lip trouble. One dedicated but frustrated jazz enthusiast walked out of the Sydney
Stadium in the middle of a number proclaiming that Louis had prostituted his art and was no longer playing the jazz he should have been playing.

 
Benny Carter came for a visit; and a recording session, with Australian musicians under his leadership, was planned. It fell through when he was told
that was not yet possible to record the band in stereo. Gene Krupa also visited and performed with a local band. Most of the Australian drummers who heard him
were not impressed. Louis Bellson on the other hand, made quite a mark when he played a season at the Hilton Hotel.
An interesting group which included Coleman Hawkins, Teddy Wilson and Jonah Jones played the Stadium; and so did Oscar Peterson. It is doubtful
whether the locals learned anything new from these visiting bands. They were mostly playing the arrangements which everybody had already either heard or had
the bought on the band's recordings; but the visitor who really impressed of Australian musicians with whom he worked, and who taught them ways
improving their techniques, was Artie Shaw.

McRobertson's and Bob Gibson's band
The era of the big swing bands had passed by this time, but there were a still a few featured on radio and in the larger dance halls. Bob Gibson had made
number of records with a large group which featured some of Australia's best jazz was players. One of the radio sessions in which the Bob Gibson band was featured was selling McRobertson's chocolates. It's theme, McRobertsonland
an original composition which demonstrated the style and panache of the musicians who were working in the band at that time. From the full band there
came a sextet which featured the clarinet of Don Burrows. Old Gold was the brand name of one of the chocolates produced by the McRobertson
company.

Mike Nock and Chris Karan
The Three Out Trio was a distinguished group which could be heard at the El Rocco night club in Sydney for several years. Mike Nock, the pianist,
became one of the top jazz musicians in the United States where he worked for some time before returning to Australia. Chris Karan, the drummer was
also successful overseas. In 1960/61 they recorded two albums. Little Niles is an excellent example of their work. Both Chris Karan and Mike Nock
have continued to be featured jazz artists in Australia and both play with a number of the small jazz groups that have proliferated during the 1970s and '80s.

Errol Buddle and the Australian Jazz Quartet
Multi-instrumentalist. Errol Buddle, one of the most distinguished of Australia's jazz musicians, plays saxophone, bassoon, flute and oboe. He has
an international reputation and with Jack Brockensha, Bryce Rhode and Dick Healey formed the famous Australian Jazz Quartet a group very successful in the United
States and which made a number of recordings there. In March 1962 he took a quartet into a recording studio and an album, The Wind, was the result. The
players with him were the distinguished jazz pianist, Judy Bailey, Len Young on drums and starring string bassist, Lyn Christie. Christie is featured on the track, In Vino Veritas


Traditional band music still popular
The traditionally-styled bands were still to the fore. A number of dedicated players were performing successfully in the classic style that originated
in New Orleans. After a long spell out of the studios Frank Coughlan came back in 1965 to record an album with an all star group. It was unfortunate that this
album was not available for general sale as it was missed by the record-buying public. Readers Digest released a collection of American big band recordings
under the title: The Swing Era. The marketing plan called for a bonus record to be supplied with the ten record set which would illustrate a phase of Australian jazz.
At the time in which the collection was set, Frank Coughlan was leading his fine band at The Trocadero in Sydney. It was decided to invite him to bring in a small
group such as the one he used to feature at The Trocadero, to put down a collection of the tunes still extant at the time. One of the most popular tunes
of the day, originally made famous on a Decca recording by Louis Armstrong, When the Saints Go Marching In. Frank and the band featured it on the album
called Frank Coughlan and his Dixielanders Graeme Bell who had never been out of the studios was still in good form. Bob Crosby who had spent some time in Australia as the late night host of a
Channel 7 Sydney program had heard the Bell band in action and conceived the idea of taking them to America and featuring them as his Aussie Bobcats.
However the American Federation of Musicians would not agree to the plan and the idea was abandoned as far as the trip to America was concerned.

Dixie Down Under
Bob Crosby, still enthusiastic about the idea, suggested that the band should make a record which he would treasure in the United States. So the Bell
band of the day went into the studio and recorded an album of all Australian compositions under the title of Dixie Down Under. The tunes led off with George
Wallace's wartime marching song, A Brown Slouch Hat. This very different Bell band featured three respected jazz players, Bob Barnard, Johnny McCarthy and Ken Herron. The album was re-released on several occasions, the latest being in 1989 when several of the earlier Bell band Australian compositions
were added to the original twelve.

Bernie McGann
Bernie MGann began his jazz career via alto saxophone in 1955. In Melbourne in1965, he was part of the following quartet: McGann on alto saxophone; Dave McRae at the piano; Andy Brown playing bass; and
John Pochee on drums. The group was featured in Melbourne for almost two years and on its return to Sydney in 1967 it recorded Spirit Song – McGann now regarded as one of the most influential of modern-day jazz musicians in
Australia.




Galapagos Duck
Galapagos Duck began its career as a quintet in 1971 and although there have been changes in the personnel over the years, the group continues to flourish.
In 1985 Galapagos Duck produced an environmentally slanted album, Endangered Species. One of the most interesting tracks is Rhino Rag which
stands out because of the extensive harmonica solos by Greg Foster, also known a trombone player.
When a flute solo was first featured on a jazz recording by Wayman Carver it created a great deal of discussion as to whether the flute was to
be considered as a jazz instrument. Since then, many flute players have been featured on jazz recordings. In Australia, Don Burrows has done much to show that the flute can indeed be classed as an instrument suitable to be featured by jazz musicians. George Foster's excellent playing in this track amounts to a similar demonstration in favour of the harmonica. Praise is also due here to Bob Egger's work at the piano.

Merv Acheson
Born in 1922, Merv Acheson is one of the legends of Australian jazz. The son of a distinguished professional musician he began his working life as
a journalist on the Sydney newspaper, The Labour Daily. He began playing saxophone at age fifteen and whilst he has always been acknowledged as one of Australia's leading jazz musicians, up to 1980 he had not made any recordings prior to 1972 and had worked on only three sessions. Consequently, this 1986 recording of the 1928 hit song, If I Had You is an important jazz document.
features Acheson, one of the most revered of Australian jazz musicians who has since died, in a rare recorded appearance.

Dave Dallwitz, 1986
Dave Dallwitz began his recording career in 1946. Here, forty years later, is leading a twelve-piece band in that famous old New Orleans standard,
Milenberg Joys, with music composed in 1925 by Paul Mares, Leon Roppolo and Jelly Roll Morton. It has been played by many varied jazz bands
including a fine swinging arrangement by Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra. Dave and his band of Sydney musicians give it a very good outing

Don Burrows, multi-instrumentalist led Since beginning his recording career in 1945, Don Burrows has
many different groups. A multi-instrument player, he is a virtuoso on both flute and baritone saxophone. On this recording of the Charlie Parker opus, Now is
theTime, Burrows shares honours with Andrew Firth playing alto saxophone and James Morrison playing trumpet. The final trio is a marvel
of intuitive improvisation…

George Golla
Born in Poland in 1935, George Golla came to Australia in 1950. he began playing the guitar in 1955 and since that date has developed into one of
the most respected jazz musicians in Australia. His association with Don Burrows had in resulted in many fine recordings and they have appeared together at jazz festivals
many parts of the world. Until 1990 he was teaching guitar at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music where he worked in association with Don
Burrows. From his 1986 award winning album Lush Life, featuring the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, comes this great recording of Don't Get Around
Much Any More, The orchestra playing George Golla's arrangement is an interesting combination of brass, cor anglais, rhythm and large string section. It naturally follows that George Golla is featured playing
guitar.

James Morrison
James Morrison has become a jazz icon in Australia in recent years.
For a time he was associated with the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and, in the early 1980s, he formed with his brother John The Morrison
Brothers Big Bad Band, the most successful Australian big band since the famed Daly Wilson Big Band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The Daly Wilson band was
fortunate in that it acquired a wealthy sponsor and it not only appeared in Australia but toured extensively overseas. A multi-instrument player, James
Morrison is featured with The Morrison Brothers Big Bad Band on two tracks.
In A Night in Tunisia he plays trumpet; in Stompin' at the Savoy, he plays trombone. On the latter track, Don Burrows is also featured playing tenor saxophone and clarinet. Both tracks illustrate the progress that Australian jazz has made since those far off days of 1926 when the Ray Tellier band made that first Australian jazz recording of Yes Sir That's My Baby.

Dave Dallwitz, 1990
To close the track series, it is perhaps fitting that we should end with a recording by another jazz pioneer who is still living with the music he loves best.
Dave Dallwitz has already appeared in this series but this final track, Wagga Wagga, which he made in 1990 with a group of South Australian musicians, is from a collection of arrangements which he made for a big band re-creating the spirit of the early days of the twenties. To quote Dave: "My aim as arranger of these works has been to perpetuate the style of the big jazz bands of the mid-twenties to early thirties - their bright, bouncy rhythmic character, playing the reeds against the brass; featuring the clarinet quartet and allowing for plenty of improvisation. My main models have been the Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson bands"

Jazz singers
There are few examples of Australian jazz vocalists in this collection. Some, who would qualify in a collection such as this, flowered very late and
in many cases would be classified as band singers rather than as solo jazz singers. In the early days the "chorus"- was either entrusted to a girl singer who was part of the band, or to one of the instrumentalists who came out front to sing the refrain or main part of the song. Barbara James with the Frank Coughlan Trocadero Orchestra was
a skilled instrumentalist in her own right. She had a feeling for what has been termed "hot" music when she sang in upbeat items on the stage at the Trocadero.
Most of her recorded work was in the popular field but her vocal chorus on the Coughlan recording of It Don't Mean a Thing [Disc 1, track 7] is a fine example.
Mollie Byron who sang briefly with the Jim Davidson Orchestra in the band's first season at the Palais Royal was in the same class.
Des Tooley, who recorded for Parlophone in Australia from 1929 to 1931 and who was known as "The Personality Girl" and on one record as "The
the Rhythm Girl" - was possibly our closest and best example of a jazz vocalist as term is usually applied. Usually she sang solo with either a trio or quartet
as accompanying group. Musicians such as Abe Romain, Frank Coughlan, Bert Mars and Al Hammett were often included as single musicians; also Beryl Newell who played piano with a good swinging style.
not Des Tooley's last solo recordings were made in 1933 and she did record again until 1944 when she was vocalist on a session with Phil Skinner.
Sadly she died of alcoholism in April 1957 but enough was thought of her art to prompt a stage production based on her life to be performed in Adelaide in 1985.

Of the later women, such names as Kerrie Biddell, Marcia Hines, Alison McCallum and Margaret Roadknight have been successful as soloists and on records. Of these, Kerrie Biddell probably has the best feeling for jazz singing.
Her basic music training was as a pianist, but she has since spent a great deal of her time in North America where she was featured as a vocalist. In Australia she has been featured on several albums for EMI.
Margaret Roadknight began as a folk singer but drifted into singing with
jazz groups. She recorded extensively with both folk and jazz groups and is highly
regarded in Australia as a singer of blues. Male jazz singers in Australia are even scarcer on the ground.
As mentioned above, the chorus was usually given to one of the instrumentalists or even the band- leader himself. Frank Coughlan sang with a good rhythmic style
and feeling, both on records and in front of his band. Ade Monsbourgh comes closest to being a true jazz singer. Ricky May has been cited as an example of a jazz
singer but fine singer that he was, the future perception of him as a jazz singer must rest on the only recorded album that he made and which he dedicated
to Louis Armstrong. This same album was also noted for the fine trumpet playing of Bob Barnard.



"Blues" in Australia
Perhaps one should comment here on the use of the term "blues" in Australia. It covers a large slice of the entertainment business but in truth the
songs have little connection with the true meaning of the term. Most so-called "blues" singers seem to imagine that all that is necessary to be classified as a blues
singer is to sing in slow tempo and wring every emotion from a thirty-two bar chorus. An exception is Dutch Tilders whose songs are strictly in the original twelve bar form.
Any connection with the construction of the original form of the twelve- blues purely accidental. After all, Noel Coward wrote Twentieth Century Blues
G bar be Philip Braham Limehouse Blues, but neither of these tunes has the right to and to classified as a blues in the true tradition. Many so-called blues" songs appear feature a mental condition rather than a song which - in its true form – enunciates statement of fact in the first four-bar strain. This is repeated in the second four-a different words in the third strain using the same words and is answered with
bar and final four-bar strains.
As a classic example to illustrate how this formula is sometimes violated after starting out correctly: St. Louis Blues in its early verses - is set in the classic
pattern but then moves away to complete the story. But one is led to despair watching and listening to so-called blues" singers at festivals and other public performances who sing with their eyes shut, mouthing and wringing every emotion possible from phrases that have nothing to do with the true blues.
 
THE FUTURE
The English jazz critic and band leader, Spike Hughes, wrote under the
pseudonym of Mike as follows:
Jazz has a glorious past,
Jazz has a doubtful present,
Jazz has no discernible future.
(Melody Maker, 1935)

That might have been OK for 1935, but even when one considers the magnificent work that has been done since that was written, there are still doubts about the future of this very vital music which began its passage onto the world
stage in 1917 . One reads, for instance, in The Spectator of December 1990, that "Despite all the hullabaloo over jazz these days - radio stations, television programs, feature films and what not or, there are days when fear for the future of
my favourite musical form."
* * * * * * * * * *
To recap: Jazz began as music for dancing and marching. There has never been more vital music than the New Orleans marching music which was
essentially simple in construction. It was taken into the dance halls of New Orleans in the late nineteenth century and from there it moved out to the rest of the world.
Jazz bands were usually seven-piece. A three- or four-man rhythm section set the beat. The front line stated a theme generally by the trumpet and then
soloists in turn took over improvising around that theme. The true artistry of the soloist was that even in his wildest improvisation, the theme remained paramount and one could always recognise it as it happened.

The big bands came along but basically the pattern was the same. Some them recorded and played major works at concerts, but whilst these were played of a jazz group, they departed from the strict rhythmic theme.
by Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was the first. He was followed by Duke Ellington, who called his first extended work Reminiscing
Tempo, then went on to compose many more major works. But the point is that in even though these band leaders took their bands away from the usual four-beat
rhythms, they remained bands who played for dancers. Benny Goodman at his first appearance at the Paramount Theatre in New York played the same arrangements that he had recorded and had crowds
of young people dancing in the theatre aisles. Even at his famous first Carnegie Hall concert, the major work, Sing, Sing, Sing did not depart from the formula.
Unfortunately, jazz now seems to have become sitting-down- and-listening-music. The featured instrumentalists demonstrate how well they are able
to perform on their chosen instruments and display great technique in the fast manipulation of keys and valves; but there is little or no application to the theme
around which they are supposed to be improvising. Many of them are graduates of so-called Departments of Jazz Studies
at various conservatoria around Australia. The great jazz players of the past and indeed of the present, did not have the benefit of "jazz studies" to enable them to graduate from an educational institution. They learned to play their instruments,
many from gifted teachers and many by self-teaching. Artie Shaw writes in his autobiography that as a saxophone player he was offered a job in Miami providing he could play a clarinet. He knew nothing of
the clarinet but went out and bought one in order to secure the booking. When he first essayed to play the instrument on the job the band leader abused him in no uncertain manner and would have bundled him back to New York except for the cost of doing sO. But Shaw persevered with the results that are well-known. The sublime saxophone player, Johnnie Hodges was self-taught
but learned style from Sidney Bechet who gave him some points on how to play the instrument. Cootie Williams taught himself to play trumpet and took lessons
from a local teacher. Louis Armstrong at the age of thirteen learned to olay trumpet in a waif's home in New Orleans. Benny Goodman began music studies
at the age of ten at a local synagogue and took up clarinet at the age of twelve with private teachers. Benny Carter, still playing in 1991 at the age of eighty-four taught
himself to play a saxophone which he had swapped for a trumpet at a second hand shop. Harry Carney, probably the greatest baritone saxophone player of all time,
learned his music with a student band and played with Duke Ellington for over forty years. Barney Bigard was taught to play the clarinet by the New Orleans
musician, Lorenzo Tio. Bix Beiderbecke was self-taught on both piano and cornet. Of the moderns, Sonny Rollins took up the alto saxophone in high
school. Charlie Parker started out on baritone horn and changed to alto saxophone at an early age in high school. He was largely self-taught. Miles Davis' father gave him a trumpet for his thirteenth birthday, and he took lessons from
Elwood Buchanan. Dizzy Gillespie was originally taught music by his father but was largely self-taught on the trumpet, his chosen instrument.
One could go on with such examples for ever but the point is that the above-mentioned players were not graduates of an academy. It is true that anyone
can learn to play an instrument, but it is very difficult indeed to instil in any person a spirit of how to play worthwhile improvised jazz.
The Conservatorium study teaches one to play an instrument and elements of music. The writer speaks from experience. But to become a great jazz
soloist, one has to be not only a technical expert but has to be able to play, as the French jazz critic Hugues Panassie once wrote, "from the heart" and with
was imagination. And when one hears that one of our greatest jazz soloists who teaching at a conservatorium in Australia was discharged because he did not have
the requisite academic qualifications one wonders just how valuable these courses are and how serious about them are the administrators of the institutions.
Leonard Hibbs, the noted English jazz critic wrote in 1938: "In the of consideration of the best jazz, the first thing to remember is that jazz is a style
playing and not a new music style. The theme is of great importance of Improvisation is important. A bad improvisation will consist generally meaningless flourishes and embellishments.
Unfortunately, many of the highly touted jazz soloists of the 1990s are prone to do just what Hibbs recommends they should not do.
The writer was by listening to a jazz session on ABC FM when the announcer played a recording The Butcher Brothers. Said he, "This recording is of Ray Noble's Cherokee.
Those of you who know the tune will find it difficult to recognise it until near the end."
It was certainly not recognisable until about six bars from the finish when a small scrap of the melody could be faintly discerned. For the rest, it was meaningless noodling around with practically no suggestion of the original melody.
It is not usual to see people dancing at any jazz recital these days. Most of the audiences seem to be quite content to sit and listen. It would seem that the
rock groups have taken over in that area. Perhaps one of the worst things that happened to jazz was the invention of the amplified electric guitar.
The traditionally r-styled bands are an exception here. They still retain the spirit of the original New Orleans sound and adhere to the pattern set in those early days. And what is more, one often finds dancers on the floor where they
are if playing. Some might say that they are stuck in a permanent groove. But at least, indeed they are, this "groove" is a clear statement of what jazz was originally about. There may be hope for the future, but this is still not clear.
Terms which divide the art into Be-Bop; Hard Bop; West Coast, Free Third Stream Jazz, Fusion Jazz, Modern Big Band, Swing, New Orleans Style,
Dixieland Style and Chicago Style, all listed as such in modern discographies, do not clarify the situation. One has to ask whether such classification is necessary. In this writer's opinion, jazz should be just that.
But to return to our original subject, the development of jazz music in Australia from its beginnings in the 1920's to the present day.
We can appreciate not only the skill of the musicians who performed the music, but the craftsmanship of the arrangers who provide
the performers with music to play, especially those with the strongest urge to improve and better their art.
Australian jazz musicians are able to compete on equal terms with other musicians from all parts of the world. Whether one agrees with what some of them do is another matter… 

*Notes written by Ron Wills - with tracks taken from the Soundabout Australia series - this compilation includes ....

1.
RAY TELLIER'S SAN FRANCISCO ORCHESTRA
Recorded Melbourne, October 1925
2'38"
Condor C-168
Yes Sir Thats My Baby (Kahn-Donaldson) (136)
Cyril Collins, Fritz Eber (trumpets); Carl Voss (trombone); Ed Rose, Joe
Johnson, Garry Fisher (reeds); Alfred Lieb (piano); Eugene Pingitore (banjo); Ed
Patterson (bass); Ray Tellier (drums).

2.
SIDNEY SIMPSON AND HIS WENTWORTH CAFE ORCHESTRA
3'09"
Recorded Sydney July, 1926
Columbia 0514
(1926/301B)
Freshie (Greer-Berg)
Exact personnel unknown but possibly Harold Barlow (trumpet); Harry
Larsen (trombone); Sidney Simpson, Sam Babicci (reeds); Harry White (piano);
Percy Baker (banjo); Sammy Copes (drums). Vocalist unknown.
3.
THE PALAIS ROYAL CALIFORNIANS
Recorded Sydney 30 August, 1926
3'02"
Columbia 0517
Milenberg Joys (Roppolo-Mares-Morton) (R-49)
Eddie Frizelle, Frank uShorty" Rago (trumpets); Frank Coughlan
trombone); Walter Beban, Ern Pettifer, Dave Grouse (reeds); Keith Collins
(piano); Bob Cruz (banjo); Bob Waddington (string bass); Danny Hogan (drums)

4. AL HAMMETT AND HIS AMBASSADORS ORCHESTRA

2'41"
Recorded Sydney, 15 December, 1926
How Could Red Riding Hood (Randolph) (WR-217) Columbia O-538
Bert Heath, Tommy Coughlan (trumpets); Harry Larsen (trombone);
Al.Hammett, Claude McGlynn, Abe Romain (reeds); Jack Woods (piano); Percy
Watson (banjo); Orm Wills (brass bass); Benny Abrahams (drums). Vocalist:
Probably Charles Perrin of The Big Four.

5.
JIM DAVIDSON AND HIS NEW PALAIS ROYAL ORCHESTRA
2'21"
Recorded Sydney 6 June, 1933
Forty Second Street (Dubin- Warren)
Ray Tarrant, Jim Gussey (trumpets); Dudley Cantrell (trombone); Frank
McLaughlin, Peter Cantrell, Chick Donovan (reeds); Gordon Rawlinson (piano);
Orm Wills (string bass); Tom Stevenson (banjo); Jim Davidson (drums).


6.
JIM DAVIDSON AND HIS NEW PALAIS ROYAL ORCHESTRA
Recorded Sydney 1 November, 1933
2'52
Original Dixieland One Step (La Rocca)
R.Z. G-21845
Personnel as above, except Jim Gussey (flugelhorn)

7.
FRANK COUGHLAN AND HIS TROCADERO ORCHESTRA
Recorded Sydney July 1937
2'56"
It Don't Mean a Thing (Mills-Ellington)
Frank Coughlan (trumpet/trombone); Colin Bergersen, Lyn Miller,
Dave Price (trumpets); Bill Miller (trombone); Harry Danslow, Keith Atkinson,
Ted McMinn, Stan Holland, Frank Ellery (reeds); Reg Lewis, Frank Scott
(pianos); Dick Freeman (drums) Vocalist- Barbara James.
 

8. DUDLEY CANTRELL AND HIS GRACE GRENADIERS
Recorded Sydney, 22 November, 1937
2'41"
Harlem Heat (Hudson)
Tom Hughes, Reg Orrell (trumpets); Dudley Cantrell (trombone); Peter
Cantrell, Alex Crammond, Frank McGuigan (reeds); Noel Young (piano); Wally
Parkes (guitar); Bert Cantrell (string bass); Carl Wintle (drums).

9.DON ROBERTS' WOLF GANG
2'43"
Recorded Melbourne, 19 September, 1943
Ja Da (Carleton) Ampersand 1
Max Kaminsky (trumpet); Don Roberts (clarinet); Don "Splinter"
Reeves (tenor saxophone); Ade Monsbourgh (trombone); Don Banks (piano);
Norm Baker (banjo); Lin Challen (string bass); Charlie Blott or Laurie Howells
(drums).

10.GRAEME BELLS DIXIELAND SIX
Recorded Melbourne, 11 June, 1944 2'46
Georgia Bo Bo (Trent - Waller)
Roger Bell (cornet & vocal); Don Roberts (clarinet); Graeme Bell
(piano); Norm Baker (banjo); Len Carras (string bass); Russ Murphy (drums)

11.GEORGE TREVARE'S JAZZ GROUP
Recorded Sydney, 19 July, 1945,
2'49"
Back to Croajingalong (Dunlop-Lind)
Wally Norman (trumpet); George Trevare (trombone); Don Burrows
(clarinet); Rolph Pommer (alto saxophone); Pat Lynch (piano); Morgan McGree
(guitar); Horrie Bissell (string bass); Al Vincer (drums).


12.GRAEME BELL AND HIS DIXIELAND BAND
2'50"
Recorded Sydney, 11 April, 1947 .
Smoky Mokes (Íolzman)
Roger Bell (cornet); Ade Monsbourgh (trombone); Geoff Kitchen
(clarinet); Graeme Bell (piano); Lou Silbereisen (string bass); Russ Murphy (drums).

13.LAZY ADE AND HIS BACKROOM JAZZ
2'52"
Recorded Melbourne, 15 June, 1947
The Jazz Parade (Monsbourgh) (M-49) Ampersand 9
Ade Monsbourgh (trumpet); Kelly Smith (clarinet); Ian Pearce
trombone); Rex Green (piano); Jack Varney (banjo).

14.THE SOUTHERN JÁZZ GROUP 2'41"
Recorded Adelaide, 28 May, 1947
Red Hot Henry Brown (Rose)
Bill Munro (trumpet); Dave Dallwitz (trombone); Bruce Gray (clarinet);
Lew Fisher (piano); Johnny Malpas (guitar); Bob Wright (brass bass); Joe Tippett
(drums).

15.LES WELCH AND HIS 8 BEAT BOYS
Recorded Melbourne, February, 1949
256"
King's Cross Boogie (Welch)
Ken Brentnall (trumpet); Ron Gowans (tenor saxophone); Les Welch
(piano & vocal); Johnny Foster (string bass); Tommy Spencer (drums)

16. FRANK COUGHLAN AND HIS LUCKY SEVEN
Recorded Sydney, ( March, 1950)
2'50"
That DaDa Strain (Medina Dowell)
Frank Coughlan (trumpet); Les Dixon (trombone); Andy McIntosh
(clarinet); Ron Murray (tenor saxophone); Jim Riley (piano); Dennis King
(guitar); Tommy Wallis (string bass); Bobby Bell (drums).

17. REX STEWART AND HIS SYDNEY SIX 2.48"
Recorded Sydney, 18 November, 1949
Oh! Lady Be Good
Rex Stewart (cornet); Clare Bail (tenor saxophone); Frank Smith
(clarinet); Jack Allen (piano); Don Andrews (guitar); Reg Robinson (string bass);
Frank Marcy (drums).

18. FRANK JOHNSON AND HIS FABULOUS DIXIELANDERS
Recorded Sydney, November, 1950
2'59"
Daily Jazz (Dyer)
Frank Johnson (trumpet); Warwick Dyer (trombone & vocal); Geoff
Kitchen (clarinet); Ian Burns (piano); Bill Townsend (banjo); Jack Connelly
(brass bass); Jim McKenzie (drums).

19. WOCKA DYER AND HIS BACCHANALIANS
Recorded Sydney, 27 December, 1950
2'30"
Ice Cream (Moll King Johnson)
Warwick Dyer (trombone); Geoff Kitchen (clarinet); Ian Burns (piano);
Jack Connelly (brass bass); Jim McKenzie (drums).


20.THE BARRELHOUSE JAZZ BAND 2'53"
Recorded Hobart, 20 January, 1949
Ampersand 19
Ole Broke-Up Stomp
Col Wells (trumpet); Ian Pearce (trombone); Tom Pickering (clarinet);
Keith Stackhouse (piano); Geoff Sweeney (guitar); Ced Pearce (drums).

21.GRAEME BELL AND HIS AUSTRALIAN JAZZ BAND 3'00"
Recorded Sydney, 23 April, 1952
Nog's March (Pearce)
Roger Bell (trumpet); Ade Monsbourgh (alto saxophone); Don Roberts
(clarinet); Deryck Bentley (trombone); Graeme Bell (piano); Norm Baker (banjo);
Lou Silbereisen (brass bass); John Sangster (drums).

22.THE PARAMOUNT JAZZ BAND
3'15"
Recorded Sydney, 17 January, 1956
S.O.L. Blues (Armstrong)
lan Cuthbertson (cornet); Bob Learmonth (trombone); Dan Hardie
(clarinet); Jim Roach (piano); Don Hardie (banjo); Harry Harman (brass bass); Bob
Leggett (drums).

23.THE PORT JACKSON JAZZ BAND
Recorded Sydney; 25 November, 1957
3'38"
I'm Confessin' (That Love You) (Dougherty Reynolds Neiburg)
Bob Barnard (trumpet); Johnny McCarthy (clarinet); Frank Traynor
bass);
trombone); Dick Hughes (piano); Ray Price (guitar); Harry Harman (string
Johnny Blevins (drums).

24.THE MUSIC MAKER ALL STARS 5'40"
Recorded Sydney; 17 July, 1957.
Ockeration (Bamford) ((XCTX-265)
John Bamford (trombone); Frank Smith (alto saxophone); Dave Owens
(tenor saxophone); Don Burrows (baritone saxophone); Terry Wilkinson (piano);
Fred Logan (string bass); Ron Webber (drums).

25.THE AUSTRALIAN ALL STARS 3'01"
Recorded Sydney; L December, 1959
Ka Link (Jones)
Don Burrows (baritone saxophone); Dave Rutledge (alto saxophone);
Terry Wilkinson (piano); Fred Logan (string bass); Ron Webber (drums).

26.BOB GIBSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA. 2'17"
Recorded Sydney; 14 January, 1960
Theme from McRobertsonland (Alcock)
Bill Burton, Ron Falson, Mal Pearce (trumpets); Jack Grimsley, John
Bamford (trombones); Don Burrows, Eric Morrison, Errol Buddle, Geoff Kitchen,
Neville Thomas (reeds); Jimmy White (piano); George Golla (guitar); George
Thompson (bass); Frank Marcy (drums).

27. THE BOB GIBSON SEXTET 1'51"
Recorded Sydney; 14 January, 1960
Old Gold (Alcock)
Don Burrows (clarinet); Trevor Young (vibraphone); Jimmy White
(piano); George Golla (guitar); George Thompson (string bass); Frank Marcy
(drums).

28.THE THREE OUT 4'57"
Recorded Sydney; 14 October, 1960
Little Niles
Mike Nock (piano); Fred Logan (string bass); Chris Karan (drums)

29.THE ERROL BUDDLE QUARTET 5'30"
Recorded Sydney; 14 March, 1963
In Vino Veritas (Christie) (2YAA-1007 ) H.M.V. OCSD-7594
Errol Buddle (tenor saxophone); Judy Bailey (piano); Lyn Christie
(string bass); Len Young (drums).

30.FRANK COUGHLAN AND HIS DIXIELANDERS 3'27"
Recorded Sydney; 12 March, 1965
SPS-8
When the Saints Go Marching In (Trad.)
Frank Coughlan (trombone); Ken Brentnall (trumpet); Jim Ryan
(clarinet); Ron Murray (tenor saxophone); Col Nolan (piano); Ėd Gaston (string
bass); Tom Bone (drums)

31.GRAEME BELL AND HIS ALL-STARS 2'38
Recorded Sydney; 21 August, 1967
A Brown Slouch Hat (Wallace)
Graeme Bell (piano); Bob Barnard (trumpet); Ken Herron (trombone,
brass bass); Johnny McCarthy (clarinet); Harry Harman (banjo); Laurie
Thompson (drums).

32. THE BERNIE McGANN QUARTET
Recorded Sydney: 18/25 July, 1967
408"
Spirit Song (McGann)
Bernie McGann (alto saxophone); Dave McRae (piano); Andy Brown
(bass); John Pochee (drums)
 

33. GALAPAGOS DUCK 4.06"
Recorded Sydney; 1985
Rhino Rag (Egger)
Greg Foster (harmonica); Bob Egger (piano); John Conley (electric bass);
Len Barnard (drums).

34.MERV ACHESON AND HIS MAINSTREAMERS
Recorded at a public performance on Bondi Beach.; 1986 608"
IfI Had You (Shapiro-Campbell-Connelly)
ABC L-45955/6
Merv Acheson (tenor saxophone); John Mackie (string bass); Barry
Canham (drums); Dave Colton (guitar).

35.THE DAVE DALLWITZ SYDNEY BIG BAND
Recorded at a public performance on Bondi Beach 19864'14"
Milenberg Joys (Morton)
Dave Dallwitz (piano); Tich Bray, Trevor Rippingale, Paul Furness,
Johnny McCarthy (reeds); Greg Englert, John Roberts, Cliff Reese (trumpets);
Doc Willis (trombone); Paul Baker (banjo); John Bates (brass bass); Bryan Kelly
(drums).

36.THE DON BURROWS QUINTET
Recorded at a public performance on Bondi Beach 1986 5'19"
Now is the Time (Parker) (SMX-66431)
Andrew Firth (clarinet); Don Burrows (reeds); Julian Lee (piano); Craig
Scott (string bass); Alan Turnbull (drums); James Morrison (trumpet)
 
37. THE GEORGE GOLLA ORCHESTRA 4'40"
Recorded Sydney; 1986
Don't Get Around Much Any More (Ellington-StrayhornGeorge Golla (guitar); John Hoffman (flugelhorn); Bob McIver, James
Morrison, George Brodbeck (trombones); Arthur Hubbard (bass trombone);
Len
Barnard (drums); Craig Scott or Chris Qua (string bass); Tom Sparkes
(cor anglais); Bryan Barnes (french horn); String section led by John Lyle (violin).

38. THE MORRISON BROTHERS BIG BAD BAND 4 30"
Recorded Sydney 1984
ABCL-38282
A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie)
James Morrison, Peter Cross, Warwick Alder (trumpets); Bob Johnson
(trombone); Peter Trotta (bass trombone); Paul Andrews, Jason Morphett, Tom
Baker (reeds); Glen Hendrich (vibraphone); Kevin Hunt (piano); Steve Brien
(guitar); Craig Scott (string bass); John Morrison (drums).

39.THE MORRISON BROTHERS BIG BAD BAND 4'55"
Recorded Sydney 1984
Stompin' at the Savoy
Personnel as above except James Morrison (trombone); Don Burrows
tenor saxophone & clarinett) added.

40.DAVE DALLWITZ GOOD TIME JAZZ ORCHESTRA 5'45"
Recorded Adelaide; June 1989
Wagga Wagga (Dallwitz) Seacliff Jazz SJ-104
Dave Dallwitz (piano); Ross Smith, Allen Duffield (trumpets); Deryck
Bentley (trombone); Maurie Le Doeff, Max Thomas, Don Armstrong, Tas Brown
(reeds); John Malpas (banjo); Bob Wright (brass bass); John Woodards (drums)