NAKED CITY: JAZZ THEN & NOW!

Many would be familiar with the warring tribes of mods and rockers who battled it out at venues like Britain’s Brighton Beach in the early to mid 60s and have been immortalised in movies like Quadrophenia. Less would be acquainted with the shortlived tension between jazzers and rockers which played out in Melbourne during the late 50s.

Whilst it never reached the fervour of the UK scuffles, it was still a battle of subcultures. On the one hand young trad jazz fans, decked out in duffel coats and mohair sweaters, many of them uni students from the embryonic Carlton scene. Facing off were the decidely greasy rockers, drawn mainly from Melbourne’s working class suburbs, and champions of the new imported American rock’n’roll.

The whole thing was probably more a tabloid beat up than a genuine punch up and mercifully the phenomenon never really reached Sydney. However the trad scene of the late 50s and 60s did produce its own young hipsters, discovering jazz for the first time through its New Orleans and pre-war roots and later graduating to the bop and free jazz scenes.

In the Sydney of the 60s jazz met coffee house folk to form a fleeting beat scene, centered around venues in Kings Cross and Darlinghurst. We’ve always had a warm regard for the 60s beat scene, which flourished in the US, but had a lesser impact in Sydney. It would be nice to think that 30 let alone 3,000 beatniks, once rioted in Kings Cross but it never happened although venues such as the Piccolo Bar were home to an eclectic mix of beat oriented writers, poets, actors and musicians. Coltrane’s Blue Train (Parts 1 & 2) took pride of place on the juke box for many years – so enuff said!

These days we are exposed to a myriad of music styles and anybody beginning an interest in jazz can explore a wide variety of styles in the harbour city. Step into the East Sydney Hotel in Woolloomooloo on a Sunday evening and you’ll find Geoff Bull and his Finer Cuts playing a classic style of pre-war New Orleans jazz. Geoff was there was there way back in the 1960s, at a time when none of his very young his band were even born.  

Elsewhere around town jazz from traditional to progressive and experimental is played in a variety of clubs. pubs and warehouse venues. Unlike the late 50s it’s hard to spot a jazz fan in the streets these days unless they’re wearing a John Coltrane t-shirt and it’s unlikely they will be clutching a stack of twelve inch albums as was once the affectation in Melbourne.

If you are looking for a broad church of musical styles the upcoming Jazzgroove Summer Festival continues a great musical tradition in Sydney when it takes over the  clubs, pubs, parks and concert venues of Surry Hills and Redfern from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 January.  Since its inception in 2010 the Festival has grown from relatively humble beginnings and this year features an opening night concert at the Tom Mann Theatre, club shows featuring artists drawn from all over Australia and New Zealand, workshops, children’s shows and a free solar powered jazz picnic in Prince Alfred Park.

The 2013 lineup features the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Roger Manin’s Hip Flask (NZ), Jonathan Zwartz Band, Julien Wilson (VIC), Andy Gander, Elana Stone, Tom O’Halloran (WA), The Alcohotlicks,Steve Barry Trio, Modern Mould, Ken Allars Trio, Brad Child, The Prophets (NSW/VIC), Salvation Street Shout, Midnight Teaparty, The Cooking Club, The Translators, Zoe & The Buttercups, The Fantastic Terrific Munkle, Harry Sutherland and many more! Check out all the details atwww.jazzgroove.com