Frank Traynor (8 August 192722 February 1985) was an Australian

jazz musician This is a list of jazz musicians by instrument based on existing articles on Wikipedia. Do not enter names that lack articles. Do not enter names that lack sources. Accordion * Kamil Běhounek (1916–1983) * Luciano Biondini (born 1971) * A ...

, trombonist and entrepreneur based 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 ...

. He led Australia’s longest continuously running jazz band, the Jazz Preachers, from 1956 until his death in 1985. He founded the Melbourne Jazz Club in 1958. He founded and ran Frank Traynor's Folk and Jazz Club (1963–75), which played a central role in the Australian folk revival. The club featured performers including

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, Danny Spooner,

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, David Lumsden,

Trevor Lucas Trevor George Lucas (25 December 1943 – 4 February 1989) was an Australian folk singer, a member of Fairport Convention and one of the founders of Fotheringay. He mainly worked as a singer-songwriter and guitarist but also produced many album ...

and

Margret RoadKnight Margret RoadKnight (born in July 1943) is an Australian singer-guitarist. In a career spanning more than five decades, she has sung in a wide variety of styles including blues, jazz, gospel, comedy, cabaret, and folk. In January 1976 she relea ...

. Traynor formed his first band, the Black Bottom Stompers, in 1949. In 1951 he joined the

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Band and that same year was voted best trombonist in the "Make Way for the Bands" poll. He also made his first recordings with this band. He and his band were also a regular feature at Athol's Abbey, an underground bar and grill on the corner of St Kilda Road and Park Street (known now as the "Domain" beneath the late Domain Hotel, now a commercial complex during the 1970s. In 1963, Traynor recorded an EP with Judith Durham titled, ''

Judy Durham Judith Durham (born Judith Mavis Cock; 3 July 1943 – 5 August 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and musician who became the lead singer of the Australian folk music group the Seekers in 1963. The group became the first Australian p ...

''. Frank and the Jazz Preachers were also a prominent feature of the Melbourne City Council's FEIP program – Free Entertainment in the Parks lunchtime activities during the '70s under the MC of Mr Robert King Crawford, with sound (amplification provided by H. C. McLean and Son Public Address. In 1972, Traynor was part of the Fable Singers recording session, which saw the theme songs for the 12 then-VFL clubs recorded under the musical direction of channel 7's

Ivan Hutchinson Ivan Joseph Hutchinson (11 February 1928 – 7 October 1995) was an Australian film critic, television personality and music director. Hutchinson was active in the industry for over 30 years, from the early 1960s until the mid-1990s, first on ...

, alongside other Australian jazz musicians such as

Smacka Fitzgibbon Graham Francis "Smacka" Fitzgibbon (12 February 1930 – 15 December 1979) was an Australian banjoist and vocalist in the trad jazz idiom. He was a publican in country Victoria and restaurateur in Melbourne. Biography Early life Fitzgerald was bo ...

. Most of these recordings are still played at AFL matches today; Traynor's trombone playing can be prominently heard at the start of the

Carlton football club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

song "We Are the Navy Blues". Another regular venue during this period was the Dick Whittington Tavern in Hotham Street, St Kilda, on a Saturday afternoon. Frank Traynor was diagnosed with

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

and died in 1985. He was survived by his wife and their daughter, and two sons from a previous marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Traynor, Frank 1927 births 1985 deaths Australian jazz trombonists 20th-century Australian musicians 20th-century trombonists