05-05-2009, 22:30
From around April 1988 I started singing with Tony Barnard's ALL HAT JAZZ at a pub in Balmain (Sydney), a relatively historical pub (politically) called The Unity Hall. It had been the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party (our current Federal Government) a little over a hundred years ago.
We held a Sunday afternoon residency there from then (1988) until some time in 1993 that attracted many of the country's stellar Jazz musicians, singers and even a few actors to sit in on occasion. With very few exceptions, Sundays were a packed house.
The band also played a number of the country's Jazz Festivals, recorded a CD which saw release in the U.K. in early 1999 and somewhere along its timeline morphed into Four Brothers Ahead, a band that featured the four brothers (two Barnards - Tony & Adam and two Quas - Chris & Willy) and one 'head' (myself - 'Beachhead').
Among this latter variants festival performances were the 1992 Powers Jazz Festival in Brisbane and the 1993 Mazda Montsalvat Jazz Festival in Melbourne. The latter had at least one of its performances recorded through the sound desk (rather badly, sadly) and just yesterday I discovered that, courtesy of a bloke who calls himself 'harrylegends' at YouTube, several tunes from our Saturday afternoon performance of September 26, 1992 had been videotaped.
This has made me happy for several reasons:
I hope you enjoy the vids. It is something a little different from me than many on MD have known.
We held a Sunday afternoon residency there from then (1988) until some time in 1993 that attracted many of the country's stellar Jazz musicians, singers and even a few actors to sit in on occasion. With very few exceptions, Sundays were a packed house.
The band also played a number of the country's Jazz Festivals, recorded a CD which saw release in the U.K. in early 1999 and somewhere along its timeline morphed into Four Brothers Ahead, a band that featured the four brothers (two Barnards - Tony & Adam and two Quas - Chris & Willy) and one 'head' (myself - 'Beachhead').
Among this latter variants festival performances were the 1992 Powers Jazz Festival in Brisbane and the 1993 Mazda Montsalvat Jazz Festival in Melbourne. The latter had at least one of its performances recorded through the sound desk (rather badly, sadly) and just yesterday I discovered that, courtesy of a bloke who calls himself 'harrylegends' at YouTube, several tunes from our Saturday afternoon performance of September 26, 1992 had been videotaped.
This has made me happy for several reasons:
- one of my own songs, Sunday Morning in Balmain was taped,
- I am also seen singing two 'Jazz Standards' - A Foggy Day (in London Town) and Moonlight in Vermont
- and, apart from anything else, there is even footage of my late darling wife, Shirley sitting in the front row with friends.
I hope you enjoy the vids. It is something a little different from me than many on MD have known.
Beachie
www.beachblues.org
http://au.youtube.com/beachblues
Enjoy the fruits of life, for the fruits of death are few. (©Rod Jeffery 1990)
www.beachblues.org
http://au.youtube.com/beachblues
Enjoy the fruits of life, for the fruits of death are few. (©Rod Jeffery 1990)