Bob Sedergreen (born 1943) is an
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal A ...
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
pianist. Sedergreen has worked with
John Sangster
John Grant Sangster (17 November 1928 – 26 October 1995) was an Australian jazz composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as a composer although he also worked with Graeme Bell, Humphrey Lyttelton and Don Burrows. H ...
,
Don Burrows
Donald Vernon Burrows (8 August 1928 – 12 March 2020) was an Australian jazz and swing musician who played clarinet, saxophone and flute.
Life and career
Donald Vernon Burrows was born on 8 August 1928, the only child of Vernon and Beryl and ...
, and
Brian Brown and supported
Nat Adderley
Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000) was an American jazz trumpeter. He was the younger brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, whom he supported and played with for many years.
Adderley's composition ...
,
Dizzy Gillespie, and
Milt Jackson.
Biography
Sedergreen was born in
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
in 1943 to Seamus "Jim" Sedergreen, a British Warrant Officer First Class, and Leah Erlichman, a
milliner
Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter.
Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of ...
.
In 1947, the British government sent the P&O steam ship ''Otranto'' to evacuate all British families, as the British Mandate was coming to an end and
Palestine would become
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Bob, together with his mother, and his sisters Joyce and Millie, settled in London and his father followed in 1948. Bob moved to
Australia in November 1951, where he lived in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and briefly attended
Armadale State School before transferring to
Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to:
Australia
* Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia
China
* Haileybury International School, an internatio ...
, a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
school for boys. Pianist Steve Sedergreen and saxophonist Mal Sedergreen are Bob’s sons.
Bob played with the Fred Bradshaw Quartet (1962–70), Ted Vining Trio (1971–present), Alan Lee's Plant (1973), Brian Brown's Quintet (1974) and Brian Brown's Quartet (1977–79). In the 1980s, he worked with the Australian Jazz Ensemble, Onaje and Peter Gaudion's Blues Express and the popular Blues on the Boil.
Bob has toured extensively both around Australia and overseas, including Montreal, Malaysia and Europe. He has been advisor to the
Montsalvat International Jazz Festival and involved in the introduction of new talent as well as negotiating and supervising the
Nat Adderley
Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000) was an American jazz trumpeter. He was the younger brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, whom he supported and played with for many years.
Adderley's composition ...
Quintet and the
McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gram ...
Trio.
As an educator, Bob has lectured at the
Victorian College of the Arts
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...
and the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
's Faculty of Music. He has also been an artist-in-residence at many Victorian secondary schools. Bob has also toured with the popular rock band Led Zeppelin playing the bagpipes.
Sedergreen began hourly sets in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia, in 2007, where he has taken to narration while performing the music of his life, taking time for comments, while still playing in chronological order to entertain the public in a one-man jazz show, called, "Hear Me Talking to Ya" named after a
Nat and Cannonball Adderley tune. He has worked as a band director at
Blackburn High School
Blackburn High School is a public secondary school for both girls and boys in years 7 to 12 in Blackburn North, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, founded in 1956.
The school has performed in prestigious music events such as The Victo ...
,
and also has dome work at Ringwood Secondary College with his wife of 69 years Rae Sedergreen.
Discography
Albums
Awards
* 1990, Inaugural Jazz Award for Australia's Best Keyboardist.
* 2006, Kenneth Myers Medallion for contributions to the arts, the first musician to receive the award
Australian Jazz Bell Awards
The
Australian Jazz Bell Awards
Australian Jazz Bell Awards, also known as the Bell Awards or The Bells, are annual music awards for the jazz music genre in Australia. They were named in honour of Australian jazz pianist, composer and band leader, Graeme Bell (1914–2012), a ...
, (also known as the Bell Awards or The Bells), are annual music awards for the jazz music genre in Australia. They commenced in 2003.
, -
, 2018
, Bob Sedergreen
, Hall of Fame
,
, -
Don Banks Music Award
The
Don Banks Music Award
The Don Banks Music Award was established in 1984 to publicly honour a senior artist of high distinction who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia. It was founded by the Australia Council in honour of Don Banks, ...
was established in 1984 to publicly honour a senior artist of high distinction who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia.
It was founded by the
Australia Council
The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...
in honour of
Don Banks
Donald Oscar Banks (25 October 19235 September 1980) was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music.
Early life and education
Jazz was Banks' earliest and strongest musical influence. He learned the saxophone as a boy in Aust ...
, Australian composer, performer and the first chair of its music board.
, -
, 2008
'Sedergreen Wins Don Banks Award', Jazz Australia
/ref>
, Bob Sedergreen
, Don Banks Music Award
,
, -
References
External links
Bob Sedergreen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedergreen, Bob
1943 births
Living people
Australian jazz pianists
British emigrants to Australia
21st-century pianists