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.

ROGER FRAMPTON: AN IMPROMPTU APPRECIATION

by John Clare

JazzChord, Feb/Mar, 2000

When I look out from my desk towards Parramatta Road, on a sunny day, a white refrigerated transport will sometimes slide by and a brightness beyond daylight will reflect back through the camphor laurels along the embankment and into my room. There is no direct sun today, but an orange van catches my eye beneath the grey overcast sky...

A FOOTNOTE ON MERV ACHESON

by John Clare

Jazz Magazine, Jan/Feb, 1982

“He’s a funny fellow, Merv,” Graeme Bell once confided. There was a long silence in which he searched for a definition of the essential Merv Acheson. None was forthcoming. Like many before him, he gave up and settled for an anecdote...

SCOTT TINKLER: THE LONE TRUMPETER

by John Clare

Excerpt from the book Take Me Higher, 2011

‘Phil Slater and Scott Tinkler are the most important trumpet players in the world,’ Paul Grabowsky told me recently. ‘They’re down here and nobody knows about them!’ The tyranny of distance limits my ability to judge this ‘most important’ stuff but I was not dismayed by the claim....