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.

PAT CAPLICE: MODERN JAZZ PIONEER

by Eric Myers

October, 2022

While there is no individual entry for the vibraharpist/drummer Pat Caplice in Bruce Johnson’s Oxford Companion to Australian Jazz there are three references to him in the book: in 1957 he was amongst several jazz artists who released recordings, others being Clare Bail, Roger and Graeme Bell, Graeme Coyle, Ade Monsbourgh, Les Welch, the Australian Jazz Quintet, and the Cootamundra Jazz Band. “The market for this music was essentially of the stay-at-home variety,” writes Johnson, “and Pat Caplice, whose records of this period attracted such favourable comment, had to disband his trio for lack of work”. Caplice gets another mention in the Oxford Companion in relation to Sydney’s nightclub scene which, according to Johnson “became in many respects, an extended workshop for professional musicians with progressive jazz interests”…

MEMORIES OF ALAN LEE

by Garry Lee

November, 2022

Alan Lee was born on 29 July 1936, and died on 7 August 2022. However, this is not to be read as a definitive obituary. Alan was more than 15 years older than me and lived in Melbourne for both the beginning and end of his life. I was born in England but grew up in Sydney from 1957 to 1983, when I moved to Perth. However our paths did cross on many occasions especially when Alan lived in Perth. He was a huge influence and inspiration for me in my formative years as a vibes player, and I think some of his outlooks on life rubbed off on me also…

THE COMMUNITY OF A JAZZ CLUB

by Ian Muldoon

November 20, 2022

There’s definitely something going on. This I say to myself as the band disperses after warming up and each player leaves the cluttered tiny space, to climb the narrow steep stairs behind the stage, which angle sharply upwards right to left, floor to ceiling, disappearing into the upper regions which serves in this venue as “backstage”. Stage lights generate heat. There is no air conditioning and the warm muggy air prefigures a Spring storm. Welcome to a jazz club, the Jazzlab, this one in Brunswick, Melbourne, where some very fine artists are about to perform…