john buchanan

This folder is dedicated to the activities of the entrepreneur and broadcaster John Buchanan, perhaps best-known as the presenter of the programme Swing Sessions on 2MBS-FM Fine Music at 12 noon every Monday.

JOHN BUCHANAN: HONOURED FOR SERVICES TO JAZZ MUSIC

by Samuel Moore

Fine Music 102.5 Magazine, July 14, 2016

John Buchanan was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the Australia Day Honours in 2016 for, “services to jazz music, and to the broadcast media”. He has long been involved in the jazz scene, organising concerts and festivals as well as broadcasting on radio for many years. He joined Fine Music as a volunteer in 2009…

FOREWORD TO JOHN BUCHANAN’S “EMPEROR NORTON’S HUNCH”

by Peter J F Newton

October, 1996

John Buchanan had a dream. I don't know just when he decided to translate dream into reality. What I do know is that about four years ago he presented to a large audience at Sydney Town Hall the first of several well-organised tributes to Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. He uses the finest traditional jazz performers locally available and some brought from interstate. These concerts, these well-rehearsed bands, are clearly imbued with the Lu Watters' spirit. But what exactly is that spirit? Let us examine the claim that his band was one of the most influential jazz bands in the history of jazz…

EMPEROR NORTON’S HUNCH: The story of Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Band

by John Buchanan

Reviewed by Larry L Quilligan

Allegheny Jazz Society, October, 1996

This is a book that this reviewer read from cover to cover in one sitting. Containing a total of 160 pages, that was not a feat of endurance. It was a thoroughly enjoyable return to the late 1930s, the 1940s and into the early 1950s when, to many jazz buffs and record collectors, "West Coast jazz" had an entirely different meaning than it has generally come to have these days. This well-researched work has investigated early California and Bay Area jazz history, which will delight many who have left their hearts in San Francisco…