Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Doo-Wup Doo-Wup Doo-Wup Doo-Wup - John Sangster (1980)

Here's a lesser known release from the later career of Urban Bowerbird patron saint, John Sangster. This is one of a handful of releases on Sangster's own 'Rain Forest Records' imprint, put out in the early eighties - Peaceful being another. Expect more of Sangster's idiosyncratic, mischievous, trad-influenced jazz played by the likes of Tony Gould, Ian Bloxsom, Errol Buddle, Graeme Lyall, Len Barnard and Bob Barnard.  

Mediafire. 

Australian Jazz Quintet + 1 (1957)

The Australian Jazz Quintet (also confusingly known as The Australian Jazz Quartet) were an old-school cool jazz act that achieved success both in their homeland and in the United States throughout the 1950s. There are some familiar players in this group with Errol Buddle (bassoon and sax) going on to a prolific career, often playing with Don Burrows et al and Bryce Rohde (piano) becoming a significant jazz composer. The addition of bassoon, flute and vibes to the established jazz format of piano, bass, drums and sax made the band stand out at the time and lead to national tours and television appearances in America. 

The A side of this LP is entirely taken up by the tremendous Jazz In D Minor Suite, written especially for the group by Bill Holman. The flip side is composed of shorter, more conventional pieces which are all impeccably played by the quintet (+1). 

Mediafire. 

Wives & Lovers - George Golla (1968/70)

George Golla has played on countless records accompanying Don Burrows, Sven Libaek, John Sangster et al, but he very infrequently released LPs under his own name and own direction. This is one of those records, and it’s a nice one. Wives & Lovers is a crowd-pleasing set of standards, Beatles covers and Brazillian bossa. I recall seeing a live LP of Golla and his band which was recorded at a popular pancake eatery in Sydney - I imagine this is exactly the kind of set they would playing, one that would ensure that the punters were hearing something they were familiar with or at least something that was engaging on first listen. Only one piece, Waltz To Adelaide, is a Golla original and it’s a damn shame that there aren’t more on this record because it’s the album's standout for me - a Libaek-esque waltz with nice dynamic changes and great work from the horn section. In fact, it’s as good as Libaek’s best, and the way that it is arranged and executed as a complete, concise song actually exceeds most of Sven’s work in this regard. 

Of the two Beatles covers, Day Tripper probably wouldn’t sound out of place on an album of novelty easy-listening covers, but it’s pleasant enough. Fool On The Hill is quite an interesting interpretation of this song and reimagines it as an odd shuffle with a sort of weird sense of unease in the chorus. The standards are pretty standard, although Wives and Lovers is great, and the Brazilian stuff on side two is good, but still feeling a bit safe and diluted for a popular audience. Overall, a lovely late-sixties Oz jazz album with some unevenness in the quality, but worth it for Golla’s Waltz To Adelaide and a few others.

Label: Festival
Released: Sleeve says 1970, disc says 1968.
Players: George Golla - guitar
Don Burrows - flute, alto flute, alto sax
Errol Buddle - bassoon, tenor sax
Pete Haslum - trombone
John Sangster - vibes, percussion
Derek Fairbrass - drums
Ed Gaston - bass (credited on the back as ‘Ed Faston’ - no respect at all.)
George Thompson - bass

Mediafire.

Peaceful - John Sangster (1980)

This is the sort of music that ideally should be listened to while sitting on a pristine Australian beach with a beer, maybe enjoying a cheeky Winnie blue (or some of Australia's other well-loved herbal produce) while listening to the native birds calling in the coastal scrub. I'm a little surprised, in fact, that Sangster didn't incorporate field recordings of birdsong or other native bioacoustics into this LP as he has with so many of his others. (Especially with titles like 'Reed-warbler Song').

This set is quite consistent in its instrumentation, comprising acoustic guitar, vibes and other melodic percussion instruments, smooth sax and flute. Overall the LP is reminiscent of the quieter sections of Sangster's fantastic Australia And All That Jazz records. The relatively straightforward arrangements and breezy exotica feel also evoke the vibe of John Zorn pieces like The Gift.

This record is an artefact of late 20th century Oz exotica which evolved from an appreciation of Australia as something of a tropical paradise. (See Sangster's own aptly titled Paradise for an excellent example of this cultural phenomenon). And unlike the unobtainable island fantasies of the original American exotica wave of the late fifties, this was a paradise that was easily accessible to any Australian with a bit of time, a serviceable caravan and a desire to seek out their own Antipodean Eden. Sangster clearly loved to view Australia in this way. In a country that is often ashamed of celebrating it's own 'Australianess', Sangster's music stands out as an unabashed statement of what makes it worth celebrating.

Label: Rain-Forest

Released: 1980

Players: Errol Buddle - tenor saxophone

Mal Cunningham - flutes

Terry Walker - acoustic guitar

Tony Ansell - electric piano

John Sangster - vibraphone, marimba and percussion

Ian Bloxsom - percussion

Mediafire.

Snips N' Snails Sugar & Spice - Peter McLean (1973)

Snips N' Snails Sugar & Spice is another Australian children's folk record from the seventies. This one is by folk singer Peter McLean on whom I can find little to no information. All I can really deduce about the guy is that he either had a lot of money to spend on this record, or he was friends with some very good musicians; amongst the many players on the album are names such as Errol Buddle and Warren Daly. He also had the budget to put a lovely colour booklet as part of the cover featuring the lyrics and pictures of adorable children wearing very seventies clothing.

Although I was a little put off by the lyrical content at first - outside of it's original context, this whimsical seventies artefact can seem a little creepy - the quality of production, arrangement and the songs themselves are really very good. Like Shirley Jacobs, McLean inserts a little of that famous seventies social consciousness into some of the songs (although nowhere near to the degree of Jacobs). One of my favourite tracks 'If I Were A Child' contains the amusing refrain 'I'd wonder why they make me fight their dirty, stinkin' wars' delivered with utmost sincerity. The album also seems to have some connection with autistic children as there is a brief piece of text on the last page of the LP's booklet that mentions the Autistic Children's Association - although that's all it is, a mention, there's no further information or context, so who knows what McLean was trying to convey.

Occasionally embarrassing lyrical moments aside, this is a great children's folk record with strong melodies accompanied by a lot of instrumental layers; string sections, recorders, flutes, and choir vocals make this a very enjoyable listen.

Label: Cherry Pie
Released: 1973. I was able to work this out as one of the tracks 'Tom' was released as a single and is recorded as entering the charts at 48 in this year.
Players: Peter McLean - vocals
Peter Martin - electric guitar, acoustic guitars
Dave Ellis - bass
Jim Kelly - guitar
Warren Daly - drums
Dick Holland - electric piano
Lindsey Doyle - drums
John Harding, Cliff Hanney, Shirley Beauman, Nancy Clements, Janet Harvey, Francis Swales and John Lyle - violins
Nathan Waks, V. Vidler, Hans Gyors, Lal Kuring - cellos
Errol Buddle - concert flute, recorder
Col Loughnan - concert flute
Doug Foskett - alto flute
Dave Rutledge - alto flute
Warren Judd - baritone vocals
Ian Caldwell - tenor vocals
Lyndria Maywald - 2nd alto vocals
Lynne Martin - 1st alto vocals
Jan Judd - 1st soprano vocals
Jenny Parr - 2nd sopranos
Angela Cowl - 2nd sopranos

Mediafire.

Getaway (Consulate cigarettes) - Bob Young & His Orchestra featuring Helen Reddy, Errol Buddle and George Golla. (~1963)

This is the first in a number of posts featuring promotional records. I purchased this record because it appeared to be some kind of cigarette advertisement but also because it featured Oz jazz greats Errol Buddle and George Golla. After trying to find out about this record, I also found out that it was apparently the very first vocal appearance of Helen Reddy. It's a nifty little track featuring a full horn section (courtesy of Bob Young's orchestra, we presume), an extended, though safely accessible, solo from Buddle and some nice guitar work from Golla. The lyrics are pretty much what you'd expect: Get away from the everyday - swing to Consulate. The Virginia menthol cigarette. Cool, clean Consulate - the Virginia menthol cigarette! - the melody of the last line is so catchy that it surely could have been the basis of a hit single. Despite Ms. Reddy's exuberance in singing these lines in the early sixties, I am told that she does not endorse smoking and gave up the habit in later life. The people at Rothmans of Pall Mall were good enough to include a vocal and an instrumental take of this track.

Label: Promotional - Released by Rothmans of Pall Mall (Aust.) Ltd.

Released: ~1963

Players: Helen Reddy - vocals

Errol Buddle - tenor saxaphone

George Golla - guitar

Bob Young and his Orchestra: everything else, I guess.

Mediafire

The Music Of Sven Libaek - Sven Libaek (1967)

This LP seems to be one of the lesser heard of Libaek's albums from his golden era in the sixties and seventies. I can't imagine why - it's a fantastic set of music as good as (or better than) his soundtrack work which has enjoyed such a resurgence in appreciation over the last few years. In any case, the majority of the pieces on this album are from film and television soundtracks composed 'in the last year or so' and then rearranged and rerecorded for this album. The liner notes don't mention which soundtracks, but the titles give clues: Gold Coast Fanfare, Lake Moondara, Northern Territory and so on.

EDIT: I've noticed from the liner notes of the Nature Walkabout soundtrack that some of these earlier works are mentioned. Man And A Mural was from the soundtrack to an 'award winning art documentary film' of the same name which was produced and edited by Nature Walkabout producer  Bill Copland. Done Away With was part of the music Sven wrote for a 'TV play' of the same name by Pat Flowers. Versions of Northern Territory and Theme From An Unwritten Movie were released on a 1963 EP by balalaika player Andy Sundstrom on CBS when Libaek was at the helm as A&R man. I recently tracked down this EP and wrote a post on it here.

The compositions are played by that great team of Sydney jazz players familiar from countless other Australian recordings of the era: Don Burrows, Errol Buddle, George Golla, John Sangster and Derek Fairbrass amongst others. This is a superb album which deserves to be placed in the same league as Libaek's best.

Postcript: The excellent ABC podcast RareCollections recently ran a two-part interview with Libaek containing a lot of great information from Sven. Check it out here.

Label: Festival

Released: 1967

Players: Sven Libaek - piano, guitar

Don Burrows - alto sax, alto flute, flute

Errol Buddle - tenor sax

Eric "Boff" Thompson - trumpet

Richard Brooks - harmonica

George Golla - guitar

John Sangster - vibes, glockenspiel, bongos

Ed Gaston - bass

Derek Fairbrass - drums

Mediafire