The Cootamundra Jazz Band, based in the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

town of

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...

, was one of Australia's foremost

traditional jazz Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, played by musicians such as Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine, based on a reviva ...

bands of the 1950s, and the fore-runner of the Riverina Jazz Band based in nearby

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

History

The Cootamundra Jazz Band had its beginnings in 1947 when John Ansell moved into the town and formed a trio with Eric Costelloe on trumpet and John Costelloe on drums, later trombone, with Don Le Soeur on drums, and as "The Modernists" played at dances and functions. Influenced by recordings of

Graeme Bell Graeme Emerson Bell, AO, MBE (7 September 191413 June 2012) was an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader. According to ''The Age'', his "band's music was hailed for its distinctive Australian edge, which he d ...

's band, they turned to New Orleans

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

style traditional jazz, and in 1951 adopted the name "Cootamundra Jazz Band" (in 1954 John Costelloe would join Bell's band for a tour of Korea and Japan). Lloyd Jansson (later bandmaster for the Ballina Shire Concert Band) replaced Eric on trumpet and Jack Malone joined on tuba. In 1952 Greg Gibson arrived from Melbourne and joined on clarinet and Kevin McArthur took over as drummer. In 1952 in Leeton they played at the Jazz Convention to popular acclaim, and gained further notice in Hobart in 1953 then 1954 in Sydney and in 1955 when the Convention was held at "Coota". Malone retired in 1956 and the band gained a bassist in Bob Cowle. Laurie Gooding replaced Gibson on clarinet around 1960. The group disbanded when Ansell moved to

in 1960 and (with wife Shirley Ansell on piano, John Costelloe on trombone, David Kennedy on saxes and clarinet, Graeme Callander on tuba and George Ceeley on drums) founded the Riverina Jazz Band, still going strong in 1995 with virtually the same lineup. The band made two albums: a critically acclaimed self titled 10" LP which was Volume 6 in the collection ''Jazz in Australia'' for

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

, and ''Country Barn Dance'' for Columbia – 33-OSX-7620 (1963). The latter was re-released on compact cassette with additional tracks by the Riverina Jazz Band, and later again on compact disc. McArthur later founded The Music Men with Peter Brown on reeds, Pat O'Halloran on guitar and Mike McCall on fretless bass, all having played with the Riverina Jazz Band.Liner notes, ''Just a Sunday Session with The Music Men'' (compact disc)

References

{{reflist Australian jazz ensembles Musical groups established in 1954 Dixieland