JOHN CLARE

This section is dedicated to the work of John Clare, who began writing in the early 70s, and has long been regarded as the doyen of Australian jazz writers. Helen Garner, in her preface to Clare's book Take Me Higher, describes how she used to cut out his writings under his Gail Brennan pseudonym and paste them into her diary. Originally she thought the articles were written by a woman. She describes his writing as "superbly literate and articulate, deeply informed, yet completely ordinary in tone, even at their most elated. A relaxed freedom flowed through everything he wrote. He was fearless. He rejoices. He celebrated. Years later, an art critic who admired him said to me: John Clare’s an ecstatic.” Many of John Clare's articles that were published previously in various publications are collected here. Click on the INDEX button for a list of articles in this folder.

MARK SIMMONDS, BOBBY GEBERT, SWEET ATMOSPHERE: FREEBOPPERS GET IN FLEA'S EAR

Three albums reviewed by Gail Brennan/John Clare 

Date & Location to come...

Each of these local albums is rooted in a different period — from contemporary jazz back to a pre-1945 orientation. Together they demonstrate a tremendous depth of talent right across the spectrum...

KEITH HOUNSLOW: A NEW CAREER PHASE

by Gail Brennan/John Clare

Jazz Magazine, Winter, 1986

Think of the places where you have heard memorable jazz or even jazz history in the making, or places you have visited in the knowledge that great sessions have taken place there. So many of them have a subterranean aspect, or are reached by fire escape, have a dinginess and claustrophobia, or are simply nondescript. The Jazz Centre 44 at St Kilda, Melbourne, was not like that at all in the late 1950s…

THE MASTER: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BERNIE McGANN

by John Clare

The Monthly, October, 2012

Heading west by train out of Sydney, two stops before Parramatta, that railway voice comes crashing through tinny speakers, “Next stop: GrAAAnville!” The ‘A’ is as harsh as garbage being crushed outside your house. The industrial flatlands of Granville, between Sydney and the Blue Mountains, are where Bernie McGann grew up. Who he? McGann — whose 75th birthday was marked this July by two sensational nights at the Sound Lounge in Sydney — is possibly the most original voice in Australian jazz...