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: PADDY FITZALLAN 1925- 2015

by Garry Lee

Published July, 2018

The recent passing of jazz trumpeter/bandleader Patrick Gordon (Paddy) Fitzallan heralds the close of a golden period of Australian jazz and dance band music. Paddy was born in Parkes in regional NSW in 1925 but most of his primary and secondary school education took place during the Great Depression when he attended St Vincent’s School for Boys, Westmead.in Sydney’s working class western suburbs. A tough school where he learnt to box but more importantly for Australian music learnt to play the cornet…

VALÉ BERNIE McGANN:  1937-2013

A personal perspective by Garry Lee

I first met Bernie McGann in Sydney in 1974. I knew he was a postie who played alto sax and I was a postie also, having dropped out of uni the previous year to become a jazz musician. I asked him if he had delivered the mail that morning – it was a lunchtime gig at Sydney Uni – and he said he had taken the day off. I told him I had delivered the mail and he immediately offered me a beer from an eskie that the band  was delving into. What initially knocked me out was not his playing but the guy himself and essentially his playing was that guy…

OBITUARY: ALEX FRAME 1929-1998

by Bill Haesler

JazzChord, Jul/Aug, 1998

When Alex Frame died unexpectedly in his sleep on June 1, 1998, traditional Australian jazz lost a musical champion. A likeable, shy, unassuming man, he was a dedicated jazzman with a record collector’s knowledge of vintage jazz, and an accomplished musician regarded highly by his jazz peers. His trumpet style, initially inspired by Bunk Johnson, changed when he discovered King Oliver and Louis Armstrong…