About the
The Cairns Tropic
Jazz Club Inc.
P.O. Box 400
Cairns Qld 4878
Phone 0418 774 175
The "Club" could arguably be called the "Cairns Musicians Association" because the basis of the club is to promote and play Jazz. The musicians formed the basis of the original Club back in the 1960's and to this day are the main reason the "Jazz" Club exists. It was several years later that a "Social Jazz Club" was formed. However, when they wanted to put on a show, they had to hire musicians at the going rate. The point being made here is, that, even if there were no audience, the musicians would still meet and jam together as they have since time immemorial.
CAIRNS JAZZ CLUB – Early History
Filling
the gaps - early beginnings of the Cairns Jazz Club
Ian Horn
When I arrived in Cairns in
late 1976, I was surprised at the number of top musicians performing here -
Heather Pitt, Paul Zammitt, Junior See Poy, Kirk Jaress, Ruedi Homberger,
Tony Townsend, Johny Nicole, to name a few. Amazing talent for a town so far away from the big
cities.
In February 1982, I joined
“John Miner's Dixie” jazz band which had just begun playing 'trad' jazz at The
Crown Hotel. The publican Gerry Fitzgerald, had gambled on giving jazz a try
and it paid off so well that 10 years of continuous jazz later, he was lobbying
for Cairns to host the 1992 Australian Jazz Convention. The house band which
played on Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons grew to become “Jazz
Transfusion”, later renamed “The Cairns City Jazz Band” which was led by Dave
Croft. This band became the core group for the regular Thursday night jam
sessions of upwards of 13 'sit in' musicians which, firmly established the
Crown Hotel as the focus of popular jazz in Cairns. More contemporary forms of
jazz thrived elsewhere such as the International Hotel, performed by a number of marvellous
professional musos. Other purveyors of 'Dixieland' in the early 80s were “The
Barrier Reef Jazz Band” and the “Marlin Coast Jazz Band” who with 6-7 piece
combinations, worked most of the nights spots in and around Cairns before the
days of 'pokies' and breathalizers.
Music from the Crown bar
resonated in the streets each Thursday evening, the one late night shopping
night of the week, and crowds gathered around on the footpath outside to
listen. The bar itself it was so crowded that Dave Croft organized posts and a
thick 'hawser'- type rope to separate the band from the patrons. This did not
prevent the pub dog, a dingo cross, from crossing the barrier and wailing along
with the clarinet. The rope was also no barrier to swimmers, as one Saturday
afternoon, an inebriated patron who kept slipping on the tide of spilt beer and
broken glass, gave up trying to get back on his feet and bravely attempted the
breaststroke. Another incident which may have encouraged the relocation of the
band to the lounge, was when a woman threw a male patron through the glass door
on to the street outside. Gerry, the publican who apparently considered himself
to have a good ear, took responsibility for tuning the piano. “I'll tell you
when it's out of tune” he would bellow, and do nothing. In exasperation, Dave
would eventually remove the offending strings.
Visiting musicians 'blew in',
drawn by the happy, foot-tapping sound and “sat in” if they had their horn or
could borrow one. These included the legendary Graeme Bell on piano, his
brother Roger Bell on trumpet, Ted Herron also on trumpet, the banjo player from
Woody Allen's band and many others I can't recall. A jazz violinist from
Melbourne, Roy Taylor actually stayed around and worked as a member of the band
for a while. I must not forget the famous “Johno” who would drift in unsteadily
off the street for a vocal. Johno's amazing resistance to gravity was not
always shared by the microphone he would borrow for the occasion.
Inspiring regular visitors
Peter Strohkorb on clarinet Barry Webb on soprano sax, Peter George on Banjo, and later, trumpeter
Theo Spall, all settled in Cairns for a few years. Barrie and Peter Strohkorb were used
to mixing with the top jazz musicians in Australia, and in Peter's case, all
over the world. Another experienced musician, Englishman Don Graves, came
forward and added his trumpet and accordion skills to the mix. Their presence
improved considerably both the repertoire and musical standards of the local
groups who played alongside them.
Doug Hollebone was another
influential showman-trumpeter who did a stint with the Crown Hotel group before
forming the Marlin Coast Jazz Band in 1984 (The group was the support band
for the Acker Bilk concert at the Kuranda Ampitheatre in 1985). He is
credited with the first known attempt to form a jazz club in Cairns. The band had a regular gig at Scandals Night
Club and on one evening in April 1986, the pay-to-enter Cairns Jazz Club began
operations.
It didn't last very long as
Doug, always trying to keep ahead of one watchful government agency or another,
left town, bringing both the gig and the club venture to an end.
Co Van Calcar was for a time
the band's manager, and was one of several people interested in establishing a
social jazz club. He was an acknowledged jazz expert although not a musician,
who had a jazz program on FM radio and owned a very comprehensive collection of
LPs and CDs which he had accumulated over many years. Other early members
included Maureen and Olle Larsen, Andy and Lynn Brown, Lynn and Greg Ryan, Alex
and Heather Blair. Co himself was elected its first president in 1988. Remaining funds from the Scandals Club were
handed over to the new committee. The Club set about organising functions
(picnics, balls, cabarets, trips) to employ jazz musicians and to support jazz
venues with their attendance. A newsletter was distributed to members and
exchanged with a network of jazz clubs throughout the country.
Memories and observations from Andy
Brown.
(Andy is, like all our members, a very
nice, warm person, he presently resides in New Zealand and visits us from time
to time).
“I remember that meeting in the Crown
Hotel dining room where we met in 1989 and agreed to form the Club. There were about 20 of us I think. It
was very much a club for the jazz fans rather than the musos at the start –
although it was master-muso Peter Strokhorb who produced most of the initial
‘push’ as Maureen Larsen observes. In the early years there was a reluctance
both from the musos and fans alike to have musos in the ‘administration’.
Possibly as a consequence we had a long period of struggling to get a
sustainable, regular club meeting with music – other than those at the Crown
which we had no control over and which were constantly under threat of closure
depending on the mood of the proprietor. The other threat was competition at
the Crown from alternative forms of music. I quite enjoyed a couple of the
groups involved – not being as singular about music as some.
As the first Cairns Jazz Club Treasurer I
remember receiving a small amount of residual cash from a “Marlin Coast Jazz
Club” – so we knew we weren’t the first to set up. Someone else may be able to
fill us in on our precursor. Possibly it was connected with the band of similar
name that Tom Sawer played with at one stage.
Although we struggled to mount regular
performance meetings we did well out of the two Jazz Balls we had. Most of the
money was made selling grog I recall. The surpluses we raised kept us
financially sound for a long time. In those days of higher interest rates it
helped us keep subs to a minimum.
I carried on as ‘low impact’ Treasurer
for ages (always looking for the easy jobs) until I was arm twisted to take
over as President after Alex Blair gave it away (one Kiwi for another – how
desperate can you get!). My first task was to look for a successor. In your
review of history my one term as President would not rate a mention I guess.
I had already concluded that to give real
heart to the club we needed to have the musos more involved and how better to
do that than getting them into the ‘administration’. That virtually became my
sole agenda. I remember being very
pleased when it happened and not long after that Rob Williams took over… We
never looked back I reckon.
I don’t recall being motivated like
Maureen, in the formation stages, by thoughts of running the Australian Jazz Convention in Cairns – maybe a Cairns Jazz
Festival to complement, build on or replace the Tablelands Festival which we
supported for years. There wasn’t a need for a while as the resort hotel based
‘Jazz in June’ festivals filled the gap for us. I remember being frustrated by
the large number of ‘fringe’ fans who only turn up for James Morrison and
others of his ilk but didn’t or wouldn’t join the Club.
Amongst some of my fond memories were
those ‘practise’ sessions at various members’ residences, usually on a Sunday.
Curiously, I am now a member of the Wellington Jazz Preservation Society which
revolves around this kind of thing on the first Sunday of each month (give or
take) plus two or three bigger functions with a ‘proper’ band also on a Sunday
arvo. I am also a member of the Wellington Jazz Club – very broad spectrum
stuff- which meets monthly on a Monday night at a local nightclub with a paid
group. There are so many different ways of doing it.
Andy
Brown.Greytown New Zealand
oooOOOooo
Memories and observations from Maureen Larsen
Ole and I arrived in Cairns in April 1987
from Sydney.
We found Jazz being played every Thursday
night at the Crown Hotel in Shields Street. The Cairns City Jazz Band had been
playing that gig for many years. Some nights there would be 17 musicians making
up groups to play. Local and visiting musicians also sat in.
Having
been a member of the Sydney Jazz Club for many years and enjoying all it had to
offer, we looked for something similar here in Cairns. So when Peter Stokhorb
(Clarinet) suggested we form a Jazz Club in Cairns we were interested, the aim
was to host the Australian Jazz Convention at some time in the future.
We advertised in the Cairns Post for
people who were interested in becoming members of the Jazz Club to attend a
meeting at the Crown Hotel. Many
interested people came and the Cairns Jazz Club was formed.
Co Van Calcar was voted in as the first
President because he was very knowledgeable about Jazz and has a huge
collection of records, tapes and CD’s.
The Cairns Jazz club was incorporated and
aimed to support and promote Jazz in all its forms.
I was the next President and remained in
office for 3 years; I was also the newsletter editor. Lyn Ryan was the Secretary and was invaluable
during the time of incorporation and the general running of the Club. Lyn was Secretary until 2001 when ill health
forced her to retire.
Andy
Brown was the treasurer. We had a very strong committee, which enabled us to
arrange many social activities for members, using all local musicians.
The monthly newsletter kept members
informed of Gigs, Social Events and Festivals. There was Annual Yungaburra Jazz
weekend in July 1990 with local and guest bands with a jam Session on the
Sunday. We had a Jazz Ball in Cairns during 1990 and 1991; both successful,
Other Club Social event venues were Yungaburra, Atherton and Peeramon.
Another annual event was “Dancing in the
Moonlight” at the Game Fishing Club premises on Marlin Jetty, the occasion
being a Full Moon. This was made our Christmas function.
Jazz Picnics in the Park were tried on
Sundays now and then with the musicians donating their time and talents. It was
very pleasant and everyone including tourists came with rugs – food – chairs
and drinks.
Eventually we reluctantly came to realize
that hosting the Australian Jazz Festival was not feasible as it coincides with
our wet season. Furthermore Cairns is quite remote to the hub of Jazz in
Australia and more expensive to get here than the usual circuits down South.
Maureen Larsen..
oooOOOooo
The third President was Alex Blair.
oooOOOooo
through the eyes of Lyn Ryan Secretary
Please be aware
I did not leave the Cairns Jazz Club due to ill health. Greg and I liked the
climate at Yungaburra (plus the quiet area where we live) and decided to move
to Yungaburra permanently and run our small business from our new home at
Yungaburra..
I first came to Cairns about 1986. Five girlfriends of mine
came to see me for a holiday.
Two of these
girls were on the committee of the Perth Jazz Club. They could not believe
there was no Jazz Club in Cairns.
The girls arranged for a copy of the Perth Constitution to be forwarded to me.
Another friend
at NQEA was also a member of the Cairns Rock N Roll Club.
We combined the
two clubs constitutions together and I typed the Constitution for the Cairns
Jazz Club as well as the Cairns Rock N Roll Club.
Kevin McCreedy
(a Cairns Barrister).was a keen jazz supporter and arranged for the Cairns Jazz
Club to be incorporated free of charge. Peter O'Malley and Gerry Meirs also
assisted with our auditing of our books. We had our monthly meetings at the
Crown Hotel (asked everyone to sign a book),
Gerry Fitzgerald
paid the Band at the Cape York Hotel during our time there. When we left the Crown we
went to the Railway Hotel and then to the Grand Hotel. Both these hotels paid
the Band.
We rang various
functions e.g. Trip to Cooktown (I managed discount tickets for the 80 people
who attended on the Quicksilver boat and
the Club helped subsidize other aspects of it). We held a street parade, Ball
and gigs at all hotels in Cooktown. Neville Hermes and his banjo strummed all the way
to Cooktown with Daryl and Barrie Webb.
We ran a ball at
St. Josephs in Cairns.
Ran our on Bar and arranged lucky door prizes. Alex donated a couple of bottles
of wine, Oly Larsen small goods and myself a Fruit Cake and Mango Chutney.
Marshall Grey kept a book (which was in the Jazz Club Box of goodies).Marshall
did the same at the Yungabura Community Hall for the Jazz Ball. We had a
Concert at Brothers Leagues Club. I rang various tourist resorts etc. and
always was able to obtain vouchers which we raffled at various jazz gigs etc.
e.g. Jungle Tours, Crater Lakes Resort, Quicksilver Cruises, Big cat to name a
few. Helene Johnston came over from Perth
and sang at two Jazz Festivals in the Tablelands. She would sing with Barrie
and Daryl at St. Johns Church in Cairns.
She recently released a CD in Cairns and that is
how we got the Kalamunda Band over from Perth
for one (or two) of our Festivals in Cairns.
Greg borrowed a tent from the CDRL to bring to Nick's for the Sunday of the
Festival (2 years in a row).We had a couple of Jazz Race Days at Cannon Park.
Andy Brown worked at Great Adventures and obtained cheap fares for our Wedding
and the Barrier Reef Jazz Band came to Fitzroy Island
and played at our wedding. (No charge) which was very much appreciated.
I also have my
own photos from these events over the years if you would like to borrow any. We
used to have a monthly Picnic with the Jazz Club at Centenary Park.
Jack Noonan (now leader of Atherton Hot Shots) would make appearances from time
to time to assist our Club.
Lyn Ryan.
oooOOOooo
Cairns
is a changing growing vibrant Tourist oriented City. Because of this things are
continually changing and being modified. The Marlin Jetty, once renowned for
its weigh in of big Marlin is now part of a large Marina complex, the Game
Fishing Club closed and the premises remodelled then demolished leading to the demolision of the whole area and the erection of the multiple flats called Harbour Lights. Dozens of big Cats and Reef
Boats ply in and out every day carrying thousands of Tourists.-
CAIRNS JAZZ CLUB – Recent History
By Rob Williams arrived
in Cairns in 1978 from Darwin NT.
Rob organised and performed in several Bands up there, was the Secretary
and President of the Northern Territory Musicians Association and founder of
the Great Northern Traditional Jazz Band.
Recollections from Rob Williams.
In February 1998 I spoke to Ian Horn
about an idea I had instigated back in Darwin some years previously. The basis of the idea was to provide a venue
for like minded musicians and their families to play and socialize with one
another. The idea was so popular the NT Musicians Association raised sufficient
funds to bring the Daly Wilson Big Band to that city and attracted a crowd of
12,000 to the Darwin Garden Amphitheatre.
Ian and I set up a meeting at the Cairns
Yacht Club to start something, however, that meeting was sidetracked because
the other musicians present looked at starting a sort of super fund and that
threw our agenda out the window.
Little did I know that an opportunity
would present itself on a plate. In April 1998, Barry Webb phoned me and told
me the Cairns Jazz Club Inc. was to be wound up because the foundation
members had been finding it difficult to maintain interest for some time, the
reason being that the make up of the Club did not include any musicians, it was
purely social. We both decided that if
the Jazz Club was to have any chance, it had to be run by musicians. It would
be a shame to let it die. So I rounded up as many musicians as I could.
The core of them being the Barrier Reef
Jazz Band, Dixie Jazz, Ian Horn and Helene Johnson.
At a landmark Annual General meeting of
the Cairns Jazz Club Inc on 27th May 1998 Barry Webb,
(Reeds), was elected as President. This was the first time a practising
musician had held the chair and many other musicians were present, most of them
volunteered to go on the committee. They included, Rob Williams (Reeds), Vice
President, Daryl Webb(Tuba), Assistant Secretary, David Waters, (Vocals) Dave
croft, (Reeds) Nobby Neilsen,(Horn), Jack Dale,(Trombone), Helene
Johnson,(Vocals), Ian Horn (Reeds) and Graham Williams(Drums). Many other musicians were present. Andy Brown agreed to stay on and so did Lyn
Ryan, whose expertise in secretarial management is second to none.
To further the idea of a musicians
meeting place, it was suggested by Barry Webb and Rob Williams that the Jazz
Club meet at the Cape York Hotel once a month for a Jam Session.
To guarantee a role up of musicians,
Barry Webb suggested that a “Core Group” system be instigated. This was arranged and a fee was settled upon.
This continues until this day. Our last performance and meeting, at the Cape
York was in October 1998.
It needs to be understood that there are several genres of Jazz. Jazz is American and encompasses a very wide range of music starting way back in the late 1800's. It has always been race oriented. The early Jazz was Dixieland and Traditional Jazz in the first place being New Orleans (Negro) Style and then Chicago Style (white folks playing New Orleans Style). BeBop and Cool Jazz came in after the Swing era in the 1940's and a lot later.
Barry Webb retired as President and moved
to Brisbane and Rob Williams took over the chair.
With the help of Denis Purdy (a very fine
drummer and another Kiwi), the Club was offered a deal from the Railway Hotel in Spence Street and we moved there in November 1998. It took about 12 months for me to bring all the genres of music together because the BeBoppers didnt like Traditional Jazz. In May 1999 Rob Williams was
re-elected President and the first Tropic Jazz Festival was organized
for July 1999.
Due to the success of the first Tropic Jazz Festival a second
was programmed for 2000.
A Tropic Jazz Logo was designed by the
talented Ian Horn in collaboration with Rob Williams and adopted by the Jazz Club.
2000 was a year of great activity for the
Jazz Club when it moved to the Grand Hotel. The Grand played a big part in the
Festival that year and another successful Festival featured the Kalamunda Youth
Swing Band from Perth. Many local musicians donated their expertise and time
for the cause of Jazz. By this time the
Jazz Club, Jam Sessions were occurring on a weekly basis with a Core Group on
roster every Thursday Night. During this period Greta Connelly did a marvellous
job as Secretary having taken over from Lyn Ryan whose great work had set the
scene for the Club’s continued success.
The Jazz Club again went well in 2001
with the third Tropic Jazz festival being staged in July.
In February 2002, following a
change in Managers and policy at the Grand Hotel we had to look for another
venue. Rob Williams soon found one in the Cairns
City Club, Abbott St.,
The manager, Maggie, herself a Jazz Buff, was delighted to be given the chance
to host the Cairns Jazz Club. Cairns
Jazz Club members enjoyed some great nights at the City Club and in particular
welcomed the refurbishments that made it the most up market club in Cairns.
This venue allowed us to invite up and coming Jazz musicians from the likes of
Woree High Stage Band and others.
Due to the heavy work load of the
Committee a Tropic Jazz Festival in its own right was converted to a few staged
shows in conjunction with the Cairns Festival 2002.
The AGM of 3rd October 2002
saw Rob Williams re-elected for the 4th term and the Club’s
membership hovering around the 230 mark.
New Jazz Club Logo developed by Ian Horn
and Rob Williams to complement the start of the Jazz Club Web Site www.tropicjazz.org.au
2003 Rob Williams was again re-elected to the
chair.
In
late 2003 the City Club closed down and the Cairns Jazz Club moved to the
Cairns Yacht Club.
2004 Rob Williams, re-elected to the chair
and he proposed simplification of the Constitution and renaming of the Club to incorporate
the banner.
The Cairns Tropic Jazz Club Inc.
continues on in strength with some 396 registered members and 200 others noted
as interested.
Friday, 30 July 2010
