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The current crop of Australian jazz artists are can hold their own with any in the world. A brief look at the history of OzJazz reveals that the road has been long, sometimes treacherous, and always interesting.
The Americans
Jazz, as most would know, was born in America where its artists continue to dominate the world jazz stage to this day. This has not, however, stopped several unique domestic sub-strands of jazz from developing in European countries, Africa and Australasia.
Some evidence exists that the first American jazz recording pressed in 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jass Band had made its way to Australia by 1920. A handful of Australian musicians already under the influence of vaudeville and ragtime styles immediately took the new music to heart. By the mid-1920s the hot dance music already widely known as 'jazz' had become a popular phenomenon, thanks largely to visiting American bands led by Frank Ellis, Bert Ralton and Ray Tellier. Making enormous sums of money playing at popular Sydney and Melbourne dance venues, individual band members would have a huge impact mentoring the keen Australians who idolised them.
Early Dance Bands
In late-1926 Columbia opened Australia's first recording studio and production facility at Homebush in Sydney, with an earlier experimental jazz recording made at the studio - 'Freshie' by Sidney Simpson and his Wentworth Café Orchestra - taking all-Australian frontline honours. In these formative years dance bands worked almost exclusively from printed arrangements, allowing limited opportunity for the type of free-flowing improvisation being practised by the likes of Louis Armstrong in America - rarely heard thanks to the restrictive marketing of black performers in the United States. The type of music played was what most now refer to as 'trad' - up-tempo New Orleans-style dance music often featuring a banjo in rhythmic support.
With the onset of the Great Depression in 1928, the tyranny of distance made tours by American bands a rare commodity, subsequently forcing most Australian jazz musicians to develop their art in relative isolation. To make matters worse, the dominant EMI label virtually starved the Australian market of genuine American jazz recordings in favour of sub-standard British cover versions. On the upside, there is some evidence that a handful of talented OzJazz musicians managed to prosper in the face of all this adversity.
Of particular note are Jim Davidson and Frank Coughlan. Drummer Davidson led a crack outfit which worked its way up to being frontliners at Sydney's Palais Royal in 1933, eventually leading to a recording date at Homebush. The band's version of 'Forty Second Street' is now generally regarded as the country's first big band swing recording - a remarkable feat given that swing was still in its formative stages in the United States. Commercial considerations saw Davidson record only two genuine jazz numbers, but both are milestones. A graduate of his band, trombonist Dudley Cantrell, also made some notable recordings in 1937.
Trombonist Frank Coughlan is often cited as 'The Father of Australian Jazz'. The band he premiered at the new Sydney Trocadero club in 1936 was reportedly one of the best ever seen. Unfortunately, its first lineup was never recorded. Coughlan remained associated with the Trocadero for 35 years, making several swinging recordings with various personnel up to 1965.
Graeme Bell & the Trad/Revivalist Boom
While the Americans (and most of the developed world) were swinging their way through WWII, Australian jazz took a right turn back to New Orleans. Working from Melbourne, pianist Graeme Bell was the key figure in igniting a trad/revivalist boom that would dominate Australian jazz for almost two decades. While the sound was similar to early Australian jazz efforts, the big difference was improvisation. Bell had mastered the art of improvisational music and there was enough of a worldwide following of the trad sound left on which to found a career.
In 1947 Bell and the members of his Australian jazz band quit their day-jobs, sold their shops and headed off to tour Eastern Europe on a one-way ticket. A stunning success at the World Youth Festival in Prague led to a year of touring and recording, culminating with eight months in the UK where the band changed the face of British jazz forever. As a consequence, back home the trad boom hit full swing - with the Barnard brothers, Frank Johnson, Dave Dallwitz and Allan Browne all emerging as major artists.
Bop & the Modern Strand
The 1950s also saw the seeds of the 'modern strand' of OzJazz sown. Jazz in general was finding it hard to compete first with pop music, then with the rock n roll onslaught in the latter part of the decade. Whilst poorly catalogued on record, two clubs were chiefly responsible for the existence of Australian bebop - Jazz Centre 44 in Melbourne and Sydney's El Rocco Jazz Cellar.
Meanwhile, a group of up-and-coming musicians had wholeheartedly adopted the highly accessible West Coast cool style popularised in America by Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan and the Modern Jazz Quartet. In 1955 the unique sounding Australian Jazz Quartet released their debut album in the United States and went on to eventually tour with Brubeck and Mulligan. Featuring Errol Buddle on tenor and bassoon, pianist Bryce Rohde and vibraphonist Jack Brokensha - the group was popular enough to record seven stateside releases up to the early-60s. Both Buddle and Rohde remained influential throughout the 1960s and beyond.
Also enjoying a degree of success in America was the Australian All-Stars led by clarinettist/flautist Don Burrows. Burrows would go on to become a major figure on the OzJazz scene for years to come, often recording with guitarist George Golla. The other major figure on OzJazz cool scene was New Zealander Mike Nock, who recorded the 1960 album Move in Australia with his Three Out trio. Nock went on to a distinguished career, recording overseas before returning to Australia where he is currently mentoring some of Sydney's most exciting jazz musicians.
Free Jazz
If not for the profound influence it is now having on Australian jazz, the early 'free jazz' advocates may have been but a footnote in OzJazz history. Saxophonist Bernie McGann was being compared to Ornette Coleman before he had ever heard any of the American's recordings. McGann is currently a major figure in Australian jazz, regularly scooping a best jazz album award at the yearly ARIAs. For a forgotten free jazz gem, it is hard to go past the Charlie Munro Quartet's Eastern Horizons from 1967.
Struggling for commercial identity and fresh directions, the 1970s are regularly overlooked by jazz historians. Of note, however, is the notorious Daly-Wilson Big Band and improvisational arranger John Sangster, whose series of double-LPs inspired by JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings have become collector's items. Also, in 1973 OzJazz gained academic credibility with the establishment of the Jazz Studies course at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
The 80s and Beyond
Although a handful of key artists emerged, at best it is fair to say that the most the 1980s had to offer OzJazz was survival. Galapagos Duck matured into a topnotch funky-fusion outfit, trumpeter James Morrison and vocalist Vince Jones proved they are major talents, and towards the end of the decade the new brigade showed its face in no uncertain terms. In particular, the marvellous Wizards of Oz album Soundtrack (1988) led many an aspiring OzJazz musician to think he or she could take on the world.
Today Australian jazz receives government support through the Arts Council. In addition, a small group of domestic jazz record labels are keeping the flame burning. In fact, judging by the sheer number of releases, OzJazz has never been in a healthier position. Adding to individuals already mentioned, names like Paul Grabowsky, Dale Barlow, Scott Tinkler, Barney McAll, Andrea Keller, Tim Stevens and a host of others are evidence that OzJazz is alive and well.
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