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.

THE TUTELAGE OF MARK SIMMONDS

by Will Guthrie

The Wire, May 2021

Growing up in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, fitting in wasn't always easy. Brief stints with BMX, hard rock and beer made way for punk, thrash and grunge thanks to skateboarding, while hip hop and bongs came thanks to my sister… I started playing with Mark through our mutual friend, the harpist Diane Peters, when I was 19. Over a period of six months we practiced together, and only did a few gigs, in small cafes and bars around Fitzroy, but what I learnt from this short period led to years of study, and a quest to make sense of all the information I received in such a short period of time…

AFTERWORD TO BLACK ROOTS WHITE FLOWERS: JAZZ THROUGH TO THE 1980s

by Bruce Johnson

Revised edition of “Black Roots White Flowers: A History of Jazz in Australia”, 1979

Reading Andrew Bisset's concluding comments to Black Roots White Flowers nearly ten years later I am struck by two things: on the one hand, how apposite certain of those comments were in the late seventies; and on the other, how the general picture he describes has altered during the intervening period. He refers to the momentum of Australian jazz, and in retrospect it seems clear that from the mid-seventies the music enjoyed what Ron Morey in Perth in 1977 had already called a ‘renaissance’, the biggest resurgence in activity for more than a decade. It is also true, however, that the general effect of this resurgence was progressively to modify the stylistic mixture of jazz in Australia. In 1979 Andrew noted the conspicuous vigour of traditional styles of jazz in this country. With due allowance for the flexibility of the notion of 'traditional' jazz, I think it has to be said that the 'renaissance' of the last decade has generally tended to alter the balance of things in favour of more progressive styles…

A STORY OF JAZZ IN SYDNEY: THE LONG VERSION

by Peter Boothman

February, 2008

This is a story that had to be told. The explosion of jazz in Sydney in the 1970s was a unique event, and even though Australia is no stranger to jazz this was a very special time in its history, both socially and culturally. The story shows how, given the right circumstances, jazz can gain a very high cultural profile in any major city. To put this story together I have gained invaluable information from John Pochée, Horst Liepolt, Howie Smith, Ed Gaston, Ron Philpott, Sid Edwards and many other musicians and jazz fans who were there for this big event in Sydney's jazz history…