OBITUARIES

This folder includes obituaries for jazz musicians or persons of significance to the Australian jazz community, written by several contributors. Click on the INDEX box to access a list of obituaries contained in this folder.

OBITUARY: DICK HUGHES 1931- 2018

by Malcolm Brown

Sydney Morning Herald, April 23, 2018

His father was a Cold War spy – literally, as it turned out, in the world of Ian Fleming. His mother died tragically when he was not two years old and his grandparents, bringing him up in the Catholic faith, tried to brush aside Dick Hughes’ early interest in jazz. But out of it came Dick Hughes, journalist, jazz pianist and broadcaster….

EULOGY: JIM SOMERVILLE 1922-2018

by Phil Somerville

May, 2018

These moments, these funerals we come to, are delicate time-outs from the headlong traffic of daily life. They seem to be made of three parts: the celebration part, the melancholy part and, to borrow a sports term, the rough sandpaper part. By that I mean the difficult thing of being reminded of our own mortality. But there it is. That's the deal. It's the fine print at the bottom of the organic contract…

EULOGY: ERROL BUDDLE 1928-2018

by Maree Steinway

March 17, 2018

How did I become involved in Errol’s life? It’s Athol’s fault… Saxophonist Athol Holdernesse organised a ten-piece band for a swing dance at Balmain Town Hall in June 2000. Errol introduced himself to me by a phone call about the rehearsal which was scheduled before the event. I anticipated that he was going to say that tired ol’ cliché, “Ah, you can’t read these charts, luv, you’d better sit this one out.”