OBITUARIES

This folder includes obituaries for jazz musicians or persons of significance to the Australian jazz community, written by several contributors. Click on the INDEX box to access a list of obituaries contained in this folder.

OBITUARY: KERRIE BIDDELL 1947-2014

by Anthony O'Grady

Sydney Morning Herald, September 9, 2014

Kerrie Biddell will be remembered as Australia's most distinguished jazz singer and as the performer who, on the brink of international fame, rejected the glamour of Las Vegas to be true to herself and her art. "It was a hard decision to make," she said. "Cost me a hell of a lot of money. But I wouldn't play that game. I just couldn't"…

OBITUARY: BRIAN BROWN 1933-2013

by John Shand

Sydney Morning Herald, 12 February, 2013

Brian Brown was a mould breaker in every sense. Here was a musical revolutionary who became a gatekeeper, establishing the jazz studies course at the Victorian College of the Arts and running it for two decades. That duality ensures a legacy as one of Australia's most important improvising musicians…

OBITUARY: JOHN GILL 1954 –2011

by Gretel James

VJAZZ, August, 2011

When ragtime pianist  extraordinaire John Gill passed away on the 15th April, 2011, the world lost one of its greatest ragtime and stride piano players.  At the early age of just 57 John suffered a massive coronary attack in a shopping centre in his hometown of Perth, Western Australia. John had made many friends in the Eastern states of Australia and was well-known in the USA at the various ragtime festivals where he was heralded as one of the best exponents in the world of ragtime and stride piano, to name just two styles...