Jazz Queensland is a key service/presenter organisation, dedicated to promoting and presenting, live jazz and contemporary improvised music in Queensland Jazz Queensland is a peak, non-profit incorporated association, administered by the Queensland Government through its Office of Fair Trading.
Jazz Queensland was originally the Jazz Co-ordination Program of Queensland est 1983 and officially became an association in 1996. Jazz Queensland events provide a forum for innovation and also a platform for presenting national and international artists. At the same time, engage our vast community of artists, audiences, venues, businesses, promotors, media and educators.
The MJC has premiered several important new projects, including the Paul Grabowsky Orchestra (forerunner to the Australian Art Orchestra) and Andrea Keller’s Bartok Project. On top of this the MJC has regularly debuted interstate acts, providing a vital link in any Australian tour, and exposing Melbourne audiences to the best jazz from across the country. Of note, the MJC provided Melbourne debuts for The Necks, the catholics, Sandy Evans, the Mike Nock Quartet and Bernie McGann Quartet.
Since 1993 the majority of MJC performances have been at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, though in recent years the regular program expanded to include performances at the Paris Cat, as well as supporting other performances around Melbourne. In 1992 the MJC was responsible for bringing jazz in concert format to the Melbourne Festival for the first time, and in 1997 the MJC founded the Melbourne International Women’s Jazz Festival, organizing the festival until 2004 before handing it over to a Festival Board.The MJC presents the largest program of its type in Australia, and is a crucial element in Melbourne’s diverse arts scene.
Contact Person: Martin Jackson, email: martin@mjc.org.au
Australia jazz drummer and composer born in 1944.
Allan spent the 1960s establishing the The Red Onion Jazz Band with close friends Brett Iggulden and Bill Howard. They toured extensively in Europe.
From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, after studying percussion with Graham Morgan, Allan worked extensively with Peter Gaudion, Geoff Kitchen, Ken Shroeder, Vince Jones, Barney Mc All, Steve Grant and Paul Grabowsky’s Trio and Quintet. Simultaneously he led the contemporary jazz group Onaje, which was selected to represent Australia at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival in 1992.
Allan has worked with over 35 International Jazz icons including Milt Jackson, Jay Mc Shann, Herb Ellis, Phil Woods, Al Cohn, Plas Johnson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Art Hodes, Barney Kessel, Urbie Green, Buddy Tate, Joe Newman, Mal Waldren, Johnny Griffin, Scott Hamilton, Wild Bill Davidson, Urbie Green, Ronnie Scott, Charlie Bird, Ralph Sutton, Sheilah Jordan, Red Holloway, Emily Remla and Richie Cole.
His discography totals over 70 LP’s or CDs, including The Red Onion’s “Big Band Memories”, “Creole Rhapsody” and “Crisis”. The Paul Grabowsky Trio’s “Six by Three” (Aria best jazz album 1990) and “When Words Fail” (1995, Aria best jazz album 1996), Onaje’s “Straight as a Briefcase “, New Orlean’s Rascal’s “Out of Nowhere”, “Genre Jumpin Jazz”, his Quartet’s “BirdCalls”, Shelley Scown’s “Angel”, Browne,Haywood and Steven’s “Sudden in a Shaft of Sunlight” and His New Rascal’s “East St. Kilda Toodleoo”. (The last five were short-listed for Aria awards).
Allan has also been involved in many film scores including Paul Grabowsky’s AFI award-winning music for the documentary on Joy Hester, “The Goodlooker” and Sue Stamps animated “The Whirligig”. Television credits include “The Esso Jazz Summit”, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Bodgie Da Da and the Birth Of Cool “Access All areas”, The ABC Arts Programs and many variety appearances.
Browne is also a keen writer. He has some articles and poems published and is working on an anthology of poems and essays from the perspective of a forty-year career as a jazz musician.
is a national organisation which promotes private sector support for the arts through three programs:
- Partnering
- Volunteering
- Giving
Formerly AbaF
We make connections. We work with businesses large and small, arts organisations of all types, individual artists, trusts and foundations. We provide advice, professional development, volunteering and networking opportunities.
Formed originally in 1985, the Paul Grabowsky Trio(Paul Grabowsky – Piano; Philip Rex – Double Bass; Niko Schauble – Drums) is one of Australia’s most original and successful jazz groups. PG3 plays innovative and demanding original compositions by Paul Grabowsky and his arrangements of standards and classics from the jazz repertoire.
In 1988 the PG3’s debut recording, Six by Three (Spiral Scratch), was released. Six by Three went on to win an ARIA for Jazz Album of the Year 1989. The trio’s second album, When Words Fail (Origin) also won an ARIA award in 1996. Three (Origin) was released in 2000 and in 2004, PG3 released Big Adventure (ABC Classics) – both albums have received much critical acclaim.
The Paul Grabowsky Trio regularly tours nationally appearing in major jazz venues and festivals and has just returned from Mexico City in April 2005.
PRESS
As fine as anything recorded anywhere… Grabowsky is a vital musical presence in this country. Empathy does not really come close to describing the rapport…As rich and sharp as a Boyd painting… This trio must be in love with one another. James Valentine (Rolling Stone)
The music is appropriately lustrous, Grabowsky is an outstanding pianist, as inventive as he is eloquent. Without doubt this is one of the best Australian jazz recordings…
Adrian Jackson (Business Review Weekly)
When Grabowsky makes a trio recording of his own, it is full of commitment and integrity. This is a piano trio that can be played beside those of Bill Evans and Paul Bley…
Gail Brennan (Sydney Morning Herald)
Giving thanks for this magic album.
Michael Foster (Canberra Times)
Photo Credit: Jeff Wassmann
