Australian Jazz Quartet
| Australian Jazz Quartet | |
|---|---|
| Genres | cool jazz, mood jazz |
| Instruments | bassoon, piano, flute, bass, alto sax, tenor sax |
| Years active | 1954-1958 |
| Associated acts | Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck, Carmen McRae |
The Australian Jazz Quartet (AJQ), also known as the Australian Jazz Quintet, was a jazz group active in the 1950s, best known for collaborations with Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan and Carmen McRae.
The group was formed in 1953 by three Australians and one American. The group was unusual in that it featured bassoon, flute, and vibraphone along with the more conventional jazz instruments, saxophone, piano, bass, and drums. Australians Errol Buddle (bassoon and tenor saxophone), Bryce Rohde (piano), and Jack Brokensha (vibraphone and percussion) arrived in Windsor, Canada during 1952-1953. These three planned to form a group and tour the U.S., but visa difficulties initially prevented this, so they settled down to local work in Windsor. Then, Phil McKellar, a Jazz DJ at CBE Windsor, arranged for them to record radio programs and for Brokensha and Rohde to play at the Killaney Castle in downtown Windsor. This led to Brokensha appearing across the border in Detroit on a local WXYZ-TV show and for him to obtain employment visas enabling the three musicians to play in the U.S. They soon met American (b. 1929, Youngstown, OH) Richard J. (Dick) Healey (alto sax, clarinet, flute, bass) at recording sessions in Detroit, and together the four musicians began playing as a quartet on weekly TV shows and performances at the Kleins Jazz Club.
Early 1954 appearances on the Detroit WXYZ-TV show "Soupy's On" led comedian Soupy Sales to recommend the group to a Detroit suburb club owner Ed Sarkesian to accompany jazz vocalist Chris Connor for two weeks at the club (Rouge Lounge in River Rouge, a Detroit suburb) and to have the group perform between each of her sets. Since Buddle had been playing bassoon regularly with the Windsor Symphony, Healey and Rohde quickly decided to make arrangements for the flute-bassoon-vibes combination, giving the group a distinctive sound. This unusual instrumentation created much interest in the quartet, not only from jazz enthusiasts, but also from classical music aficionados. During the two-week engagement with Connor, Sarkesian contacted Joe Glaser of Associated Booking Corporation in New York. Sarkesian named the group The Australian Jazz Quartet/Quintet, and based on a quickly recorded 78 disk, he garnered a five-year contract with ABC and Bethlehem Records for the group. Sarkesian then became the group's personal manager, which worked out very well because he also soon became a major promoter of jazz concerts and festivals.
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