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: CHRIS QUA 1951-2023
by Eric Myers
July 4, 2023
Chris Qua, universally known by his nickname “Smedley” was born in Orange, New South Wales, on November 14, 1951, the son of two schoolteachers Pat and Jack Qua. He died in Sydney on April 30, 2023 at the age of 71. In the late fifties the family, which included Chris’s younger brother Willie, who was born in 1953, relocated to Sydney, and moved into the boys’ grandparents’ place in Ashfield. Documentationist Bill Haesler writes: “The Qua old family home at Ashfield became a unique jazz mecca; home to temporarily homeless musicians, overnight revellers, interstate visitors, countless band rehearsals, band recordings, public holiday celebrations, impromptu jam sessions, musicians’ and family birthdays and soirées well into the 2000s”…
OBITUARY: TOMMY HARE 1942-2020
by Bill Haesler OAM
Sydney Jazz Club Monthly Newsletter, February, 2021
Multi-instrumentalist Thomas (Tommy) Hare is best-known for his long association with Australia's famous jazz group Galapagos Duck. He was born in London, England on January 28, 1942 and emigrated with his family to regional Victoria in the early 1950s. He took up cornet in about 1958 and worked with local dance bands, then lived in Melbourne where he played saxophone with a rock group. He moved to Sydney and freelanced on its jazz scene with various jazz and mainstream bands playing trumpet, saxophone and drums, before joining a group led by Graeme Bell which travelled to Athens on the Greek ship Patris…
OBITUARY: ROGER GARROOD 1937-2023
by Garry Lee
An edited version of this obituary appeared in “The West Australian” newspaper on Monday, August 21, 2023.
Jazz musician, jazz educator and father Roger Garrood was born in London, UK, on August 20, 1937 and died in Perth, Western Australia, on August 6, 2023. He has been a significant identity in jazz since arriving in Perth from London with wife Carol in 1971. Roger was always destined for a career in music and learnt to play saxophone, flute and clarinet in the British Army as part of his National Service in the mid-1950s…