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.

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ CONVENTIONS 1946-1976

by Dick Hughes

Jazz Australia, 1976

The Australian Jazz Convention is unique for several reasons: The musicians have to pay to play; it moves venue each year; and, most remarkable of all, it was the first national jazz festival or convention in the world. Dick Hughes looks back on the conventions since 1946 and previews Brisbane, 1976-77. This article appeared in a one-off undated magazine entitled “Jazz Australia” published probably in 1976, as it was an Australian Jazz Convention “special”, and the Convention was held in Balmain, Sydney at the end of 1975…

CATHY HARLEY: THE WORLD AT HER FEET

by John Shand

Australian Jazz & Blues, Volume 1, No 6, 1994

How did the world begin?" Down the phone-line, the question comes out of nowhere about as completely as the world itself must have once done. I pause. Is this a joke? "We were just talking about it," explains Cathy. I tell her I'll illuminate her when we meet for the interview. I wonder whether the bebop pianist I had heard with Craig Scott's dream band, Improviso, is more likely to be a Christian Fundamentalist, a Big Bang Theorist, or an Existentialist. Does her involvement with such diverse projects as Senegalese party-animals Bu-Baca or Jackie Orszaczky's omnipotent Grandmasters hold any clues?

ANDREW FIRTH: OUTWARD BOUND

by David Sly

Australian Jazz & Blues, Volume 1, No 6, 1994

Andrew Firth plays the life out of his reed instruments each time he takes to the stage. The force of his effusive personality and virtuosic flair, particularly on the clarinet, has seen the 27-year-old Adelaide musician compared favourably with such players as James Morrison, and made him popular with audiences. Curiously, it has also cast him adrift from the contemporary clique of young jazz players. Rather than be perturbed by this exclusion, Firth remains adamant that he is heading in the right direction, giving life to the music in his heart rather than being influenced by trends or fashions…