Mal Stanley has for many years been an integral part of the Australian jazz scene. Presenter of Jazz Tracks for ABC.
This video is the fifth of a series, Short takes on jazz industry personalities. Quick sound bites on topics ranging from inspiration, viewpoints on the jazzscene and more. – To view the whole series visit our Short Takes youtube page.
Mal has been with the ABC since 1986, joining as a trainee production operator. Before that he completed a law degree but wisely decided music was more fun…
He performed and recorded with Melbourne band 'The Hollow Men' between 1985 and 1991, as well as becoming more involved in sound engineering and production. His interest in Jazz continued to grow, having listened to the ABC jazz shows such as Jazztrack and Music to Midnight.
In 1994 Mal began recording jazz in Melbourne for Jim Mcleod's Jazztrack on ABC Classic FM and has since gone on to engineer and produce over 350 recordings for Jazztrack, ABC Jazz and other labels. Over 140 CDs have been commercially released from these recordings.
Artists have included Paul Grabowsky, Joe Chindamo, Michelle Nicolle, Allan Browne, Tony Gould, Ish Ish, James Sherlock, Allison Wedding, Andrea Keller, Tim Stevens, Bennett's Lane Big Band and many others. A number of these Jazztrack commissioned recordings that were released have also won ARIA awards.
He has also recorded many performances at various jazz festivals for later broadcast.
Mal has worked in most areas of ABC Radio and occasionally for ABC Television. He sees the ABC as unique in its ability and willingness to cover areas mostly ignored by other media outlets. Many jazz musicians have been helped in establishing their careers by the recordings made by ABC Classic FM and Jazztrack.
