Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Hitting the high notes: The rich history of jazz at the ABC

Must read

If you’re not a regular jazz listener, you might imagine the genre as most at home in dusty vinyl collections. But 15 years ago the ABC set its jazz listeners a challenge: to embrace the digital world.

Today, ABC Jazz is one of the most popular digital networks in Australia. It’s the only place in the country you can hear jazz 24/7.

It’s also been a key part of the country’s jazz scene, at gigs and festivals, recording and commissioning a broad range of local artists, and being a part of projects supporting young and more diverse talent.

Bringing the who’s who of jazz to Australia for 80 years

ABC Jazz continues a long legacy of jazz at the ABC.

The trailblazer of jazz on radio in Australia was Dr Clem Semmler who hosted Drop Me Off At Harlem on ABC Adelaide from 1940 to 1943, and later, Thursday Night Swing Club from the ABC in Sydney. He was once described by Eric Meyers as a broadcaster who “pioneered the introduction of jazz to the ABC.”

From 1949, the who’s who of jazz in Australia were the cornerstones of the ABC’s extension into touring: The Graeme Bell Band, the Australian Jazz Quintet, and the Len Barnard Band.

This initiated an ABC concert series that included artists like Don Burrows who also presented a popular jazz program on ABC TV for six years from 1981.

Don Burrows on flute with musicians and Play School theme song composer Richard Connolly in 1982.(Supplied)

In the I950’s, Eric Child started the ABC’s Saturday morning jazz program that was on air for 30 years. Other voices of jazz through this time included Kym Bonython, Arch McKirdy, Ian Neill and Ralph Rickman.

From 1976, Jim McLeod’s Jazztrack program became an institution on ABC Classic. McLeod presented the show until his retirement in 2004 when Mal Stanley took the reins.

48 years on, Jazztrack is still digging deep into music from established to emerging artists.

Bringing Jazz into the digital world

Jazz hit digital in 2004 with the online service Dig Jazz. This evolved to the digital station we know today, which launched on July 1, 2009.

Latest article