ESSAYS

This section includes essays on various jazz subjects, written by a number of writers. Contributions are welcome. Writers interested in contributing are welcome to contact the editor by filling out the form in the CONTACT tab. Photographs to illustrate those essays are welcome. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of articles in this folder.

PETER NELSON: LIGHTNING IN A JAR

by Ashleigh Wilson

The Australian, January 25, 2020

Usually he can be found close to the stage, listening intently, missing nothing. He’s a quiet presence, a key part of the improvised music scene of Sydney, even if the precise nature of his role might not always be clear to an outside observer. From a distance, he comes across as a devoted fan, which is, at one level, exactly what he is. But Peter Nelson — accountant, company auditor, lawn bowls aficionado, volunteer radio presenter — is also overseeing a remarkable cultural project that is single-handedly capturing the sounds and creative evolution of a generation. He’s a “national treasure”, says Julien Wilson, a Melbourne saxophonist…

QUALITY OF DOWN UNDER JAZZ UP

Interview with US pianist Arnold Ross by anonymous writer

Down Beat, August 2, 1962

There is a healthy jazz scene Down Under, and it is studded with several remarkable players. This is the report of pianist Arnold Ross, recently returned from Sydney, Australia, as music director with entertainer Jane Russell's nightclub act. Ross, who is also leader of the Synanon jazz group, took time out during the Russell engagement at a Sydney night club to investigate jazz activity in that city. "A girl pianist from New Zealand, named Judy Bailey," he told Down Beat, "really knocked me out. She was playing at the one jazz club in Sydney, the El Rocco, when I heard her trio…”

PAT CAPLICE QUINTET PACKS SOPHISTICATED PUNCH

by Wally Norman

Date unknown, probably mid-1950s, also magazine unknown

Currently appearing with Gaby Rogers down at swanky Romano's Restaurant, Pat Caplice and his Art Ray Quintet give the customers just what they want — commercial music with beat. These boys, who have been together for quite a long time, are keenly interested in their music, to the extent of having many records made, at their own expense, in search of a new “sound." Music is really only a pastime for them, as they have comfortable daytime jobs in business…