Mark Simmonds (1955 – September 2020) was a New Zealand-Australian jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and leader of the group The Freeboppers. Born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand, he moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

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 ...

, Australia when he was 10 years old.Jazz - The Australian Accent by John Shand

Career

Prominent in the Australian jazz scene throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Mark Simmonds also worked in many other musical settings such as

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

groups The

Dynamic Hepnotics The Dynamic Hepnotics were an Australian soul, blues and funk band which formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1986. Mainstay, lead vocalist and front man, "Continental" Robert Susz formed the group in Sydney. They had chart success on the Australian K ...

(1985–1986),

Jackie Orszaczky Miklós József "Jackie" Orszáczky (8 May 1948, Budapest, Hungary 3 February 2008, Sydney, Australia) was a Hungary, Hungarian-Australian musician, arranger, vocalist and record producer. His musical styles included jazz, blues, R&B, funk and p ...

's ''Jump Back Jack'', and also contemporary music groups such as

Phil Treloar Phillip Maurice Treloar (born 7 December 1946, Sydney) is an Australian jazz drummer, percussionist and composer. In an extensive career devoted to creative pursuit Treloar has addressed himself to the problems of relationship found at the intersec ...

's ''Feeling to Thought'', PipeLine and The Umbrellas. In addition to these, the Australian Rock database lists Simmonds as a member of Drain, Corroboree, Chris Turner Band, Silver Studs, Keys Orchestra, Moonlight, Ol' 55, Bentley's Boogie Band, and Renee Geyer Band. Simmonds led his own groups, mostly under the name of ''The Freeboppers''. In December 1981, Mark Simmonds' Freeboppers played at the ''All Souls Feast Dance,'' a music event conceived and produced by Alessio Cavallaro, at the Trades Union Club in Sydney, along with

Laughing Clowns Laughing Clowns, sometimes written as The Laughing Clowns, were a post-punk band formed in Sydney in 1979. In five years, the band released three LPs, three EPs, and various singles and compilations. Laughing Clowns' sound is free jazz, bluegr ...

, The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast, and improviser,

Jon Rose Jonathan Anthony Rose (born 19 February 1951) is an Australian violinist, cellist, composer, and multimedia artist. Rose's work is centered in the experimental music known as free improvisation, where he has created large environmental multimed ...

. Two songs of The Freeboppers were featured on the KMA (Keys Music Association) compilation LP in 1982 entitled ''March of the Five Limbs''. Mark Simmonds' Freeboppers released a full-length double CD entitled 'FIRE' in 1993 on Birdland Records (BL002). The album won an Aria Award for ''Best Jazz Album'' in 1995. A song called ''Kings Cross Drag'' was included on the 1993 Vox Australis album, ''Beyond El Rocco : The Ultimate Australian Jazz Soundtrack''. Simmonds' collaborators include Steve Elphick (bass),

(percussion), David Adés (alto sax), Jamie Fielding (keyboards), Greg Sheehan (drums),

Miroslav Bukovsky Miroslav Bukovsky (born Czechoslovakia) is one of Australia's leading jazz trumpeters and composer/arrangers. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994 Bukovsky won the ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album with the album ''Wanderlust'' with the band Wanderlust. ...

(trumpet), Peter Dehlsen (drums), Louis Burdett (drums), Peter Fine, Daniel Fine (sax), Steve Hunter (bass), Serge Ermöll (piano), Kees Steen (guitar), Rob Gador (bass), Michael Sheridan (guitar),

Chris Abrahams Christopher Robert Lionel Abrahams (born 1961, Oamaru, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based musician. He is a founding mainstay member of experimental, jazz trio the Necks (1987–present), he collaborated with Melanie Oxley as ...

(piano), Cleis Pierce (violin), Samila Sithole (percussion), Andrew Gander (drums), Thierry Fossemalle (bass), Scott Tinkler (trumpet), Simon Barker (drums), Azo Bell (guitar), Duncan Archibald (drums), Diane Peters (harp), Bobby Gebert (piano), Mark Shepherd (bass), Will Guthrie (drums), Scott Lambie (drums), Philip Rex (bass), Tony Buck (drums), Elliött Dalgléish (saxophones), Rick Caskey (bass), Charlie Owen (guitar). In an article from ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' 13 May 1987, jazz critic Gail Brennan wrote: "Mark Simmond's Freeboppers devastated the Basement with an unbroken hour-and-a-half orgy of rhythm and fire." The article reviews a double-bill with the Dale Barlow Quintet at Sydney's most renowned jazz venue, The Basement, on 11 May 1987. It goes on to say Mark "led a band that had played in public for a month (at the Piccadilly) and their confidence and cohesion were glorious to hear" and concludes; "It is not often that a reviewer of Australian jazz has no choice but to gush. This was one of those nights."Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 1987 Mark retired from regular public performance in the early 2000s, but continued to play music with fellow musicians up until his death. His last live performance- a duet with Jeffrey Wegener, took place in Leichhardt, New South Wales, in 2019. Wegener says that Simmonds, on this occasion, "played magnificently".

Awards

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. They commenced in 1987. , - ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, ''

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

'' , Best Jazz Album , , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Mark 1955 births 2020 deaths Australian jazz saxophonists Male saxophonists New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand jazz saxophonists People from Christchurch 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century Australian male musicians 21st-century Australian musicians Male jazz musicians ARIA Award winners 20th-century saxophonists