BRUCE JOHNSON

This folder is dedicated to the writings of Professor A J B (Bruce) Johnson, perhaps best-known as the author of the Oxford Companion to Australian jazz (1987). A prolific writer on Australian jazz, his articles on this website already appear in many folders, and in the fulness of time they will hopefully be uploaded to this folder. Click on the INDEX button for a list of articles in this folder.

A RESPONSE TO BRUCE JOHNSON

by Gail Brennan [aka John Clare]

JazzChord, Summer 1994/95

A new picture emerges. Hitherto, Bruce had shown us only one piece in a campaign he has mounted in various high culture pamphlets. Eric Myers may recall that when he heard Bernie McGann for the first time at the Seymour Centre, he said: “I’d heard he was avant-garde, but he’s actually very melodic.” That Bernie was avant-garde and difficult was a widespread assumption and a frequent put-down. I have heard venue owners say they would not book the musicians I mentioned because they were “too avant-garde”. A prominent rock critic expressed disbelief when I said Ornette Coleman was very rhythmic and melodic. “But isn’t he avant-garde?” A musician I greatly admire was surprised I liked his record. He thought I was “into the avant-garde”…

JOHN SANGSTER: AN IMPROMPTU RESPONSE TO HIS DEATH

by Bruce Johnson

JazzChord, Oct/Nov, 1995

On October 27, 1995 I tape recorded the monthly broadcast Home Cooking, to go to air the next day on 2MBS-FM. The series is devoted to special features on Australian jazz and this one was devoted to the part played by the music in the representation of national identity. The programme opened and closed with the work of Dave Dallwitz and John Sangster respectively. I described them as leading figures in the articulation of the Australian experience through jazz composition and performance. I said:  “We could not conclude this survey of jazz and the sense of Australianness without reference to John Sangster…"

THE INAUDIBLE MUSIC: JAZZ, GENDER AND AUSTRALIAN MODERNITY

by Bruce Johnson

Reviewed by Eric Myers

JazzChord, Feb/Mar, 2000

This is a fascinating, ground-breaking book… Johnson's argument, the way I read it, is a convincing explanation of why jazz has been marginalised in Australian cultural politics for most of the Twentieth Century…