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Saturday 21 July 2018

Graeme Bell And His All Stars - 1963 - In A Persian Market FLAC


In A Persian Market/Memphis Blues/While We Danced At The Mardi Gras/Beale Street Blues



Graeme Emerson Bell, AO, MBE (7 September 1914 – 13 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 describes as 'nice larrikinism' and 'a happy Aussie outdoor feel'".

Bell was one of the leading promoters of jazz in Australia, bringing American performers such as Rex Stewart to Australia. He was the first Australian jazz band leader who was still playing at 90 years of age and the first Westerner to lead a jazz band to China. The Australian Jazz Awards commenced in 2003. They are also known as The Bells in his honour.On 13 June 2012, at age 97, Bell died after a stroke.


Bell, who was born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1914, and began playing in bands in 1935, gained fame as a Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader. He played music well into his 90s, producing more than 1,500 recordings and performing thousands of gigs in Australia and beyond. Bell became the first Westerner to lead a jazz band in China after the fall of the Bamboo Curtain, and as a successful live promoter will be remembered for staging American performers in Australia such as Rex Stewart.

Born into a musical family - his father John Alexander Bell was a musical comedian and his mother Mary Elvina a contralto recitalist - Bell was 12 when he started learning the piano. After several small time bands, he established the Graeme Bell Jazz Gang and entertained Australian troops during World War II after being declared unfit for service. When the war was over, he established Melbourne cabaret venue the Uptown Club and renamed his group the Australian Jazz Band.

 The group became the first such band to tour Europe and proved especially popular in Czechoslovakia and Germany.

After two short-lived marriages Bell met his third wife Dorothy in Brisbane in 1955 and the couple moved to Sydney, where Bell wrote commercial music and taught piano to supplement his income. A trad jazz boom in the '60s encouraged Bell to form the Graeme Bell All Stars and tour to the UK, an era the musician believed to be his greatest creative phase.

Bell was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1978 and an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1990. He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997 alongside The Bee Gees and Paul Kelly. Arguably Bell's most significant legacy, and a symbol of how influential he was on jazz, is that the Australian Jazz Awards are named after him and will forever be referred to as 'the Bells'.

Sunday 15 July 2018

Barry O'Dowd - 1956 - Sing It Again FLAC


Barefoot Days/And They Called It Dixieland/Wedding Bells/Shanty In Old Shanty Town/Chesapeake Bay/Barrer Boy


Barry O'Dowd born Albert Park Melbourne 1934, first made a public performance in his late teens, He was tricked into entering a talent show. Though very nervous he came 2nd, missing the first prize of a 2 week engagement but the winner became ill, and amateur Barry nervously was hired for the 2 week engagement. He remained by popular demand for 9 months.
Then came radio and more success. Booked into the Theater Royal Brisbane for an intended 1 week, he broke all known records for an impressionist and ran at one show change a week for 7 months. Then Sydney and again broke records in nightclubs, theaters etc. finally back to Melbourne the audition with Planet Records where they found that "The King Of Impressionists" had his own voice and so impressed were they in hearing this voice that they prophesied that he was the greatest find since Bing Crosby. Thanks to Sunny

Jeff Phillips - 1969 - The Wonderful World Of Jeff Phillips WAVE RE-POST UPGRADE


Baby It's You/I Want To Meet Her/What A Wonderful World/By The Time I Get To Phoenix


Jeffrey Travis Andrew Phillips was born in November 1948 and grew up on the Canning River, Western Australia. His father was a hairdresser. From the age of ten he learned the guitar. For secondary education he started at St. Francis Xavier High School with his final two years at Trinity College, where he played football and also performed at annual concerts. At the age of 12 years he appeared on TVW–7's Thursday Party and the following year on Play a Simple Melody. In 1964 he was spotted by a TVW–7 representative at a Trinity College concert and invited to appear on nightly variety show, In Perth Tonight. In 1966 he took over as compere of Perth TV pop music show, Club 17. At University of Western Australia he commenced an Economics course and formed a band, The Jeff Phillips Scene.

 Early in 1968 he relinquished his studies and moved to Melbourne where he signed with Festival Records. During that year he competed on a TV talent quest, New Faces, he appeared on teen pop music show, Uptight, and variety show, In Melbourne Tonight. In November he issued his debut single, which was a cover version of The Shirelles' 1961 hit, "Baby It's You", and had also been covered by The Beatles in 1963. In December 1968 Phillips' version peaked at No. 34 on the Go-Set National Top 40 singles chart. That year the track also appeared on his debut extended play, The Wonderful World of Jeff Phillips. In June 1969 on the Go-Set Pop Poll he was voted fifth on a list of most popular Male Vocal artists. Although he issued further singles, until the early 1980s, he had no other national Top 40 chart success.

From September 1969 Phillips was the host of his own ABC-TV pop variety show, Sounds Like Us. The Australian Women's Weekly's Sally White described Phillips as having "charm" and "set for a long and highly tuneful career" with his "elfin chin and clean cut appeal". In 1970 he released a video recording of Sound Like Us with tracks by himself and by his guests, fellow pop singers, Ronnie Burns and Bev Harrell. At the Logie Awards of 1970, sponsored by TV Week, he won the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent. In April 1971 he hosted a Saturday morning teen pop music show, Happening '71, for ATV-0 and followed with Happening '72 the next year. In July 1972 Phillips won a song prize at the Fifth Olympiad of Song, held in Athens, performing his self-written work, "Gloria"; the prize was 100,000 drachmae (AUD $2,797). At the TV Week King of Pop Awards of 1972 he won Best Dressed Male. In December that year he was placed fourth on Go-Set's Pop Poll for most popular Male Vocalists.

 Following the demise of Happening '72, in 1973, he relocated to the United Kingdom, where he was based for several years. He released a number of singles there including a version of John Paul Young's, "Yesterday's Hero" (1975). During his time in UK he became a regular act at the Speakeasy Club. In 1977 he appeared on BBC TV shows, The Rolf Harris Show for eight episodes and on Seaside Special for three episodes. In the late 1970s he re-located to Los Angeles for a time. He returned to Australia where he briefly hosted the game show Child's Play for the Seven Network in 1984. Then from July 1985 to October 1987 he appeared in the Australian stage production of Cats in the role of Rum Tum Tugger in both the Sydney run alongside Debra Byrne, Marina Prior and Anita Louise Combe; and then the Melbourne season; he also performed on the original Australian cast album. He then went on to club work. Phillips was a regular TVW-7 personality who often performed Cliff Richard material on various Tonight shows. In 1991 he hosted the Ten Network TV talent show, Star Search, where finalists were determined by phone-in votes from viewers. In March 1992 he had a guest role on soap opera Chances; he described his work as having "some steamy scenes and it will attract a bit of interest".
Thanks again to Ozzie Music Man


                               Jeff Phillips The Palace May 1992 "Living Legends Live"

Issi Dy - 1970 - Incence WAVE RE-POST UPGRADE


Incence/One Last Kiss/Love It Is/A Simple Song



 Issi Dye has been a household name in entertainment in Australia for over 35 years!
He's performed thousands of concerts and cabaret shows, appeared on countless Television programs in front of millions of people all over the world.

In the 1960's Issi appeared on Television programs like Bandstand, Kommotion, The GO! Show and Uptight.
In late 1969 Issi had his first hit song with "Incense" and moved into the 1970's as a regular presenter and performer on the "Happening 70s" TV Show. This continued for three years.

During the 1970s, Issi toured with the great stars of music, including: Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, The Everly brothers, The Platters, Ray Charles, The Supremes, Chuck Berry and The Drifters. 

 He also shared the Australian stage with John Farnham, Molly Meldrum, Lonnie lee, Johnny O'Keefe, The Deltones, Russell Morris, Brian Cadd, Doug Parkinson, Ronnie Burns, The Masters Apprentices and many more...!

From the mid-70s until the end of the 90's, Issi had his own Television Programs on the Nine Network in Melbourne, Sydney and the Ten Network in Brisbane, establishing him as a TV presenter as performer of concerts.

In late 1999 Issi put together the Al Jolson Story, a tribute to the "World's Greatest Entertainer of the Twentieth Century"! Now over 600 performances later, Issi Dye has established this wonderful show and performs all over Australia at clubs, art centres, corporate functions and Casinos. Thanks to Ozzie Music Man for the Upgrade.

Noeleen Batley - 1964 - Forgive Me FLAC


Forgive Me/Surfer Boy/Between Two Trees/My Cathedral



During the early 1960s, pop singer Noeleen Batley (born in 1944 and dubbed `Australia's Little Miss Sweetheart') was a regular on television pop shows like Six O'Clock Rock and Bandstand. She scored a hit single for Festival's Rex label with `Barefoot Boy'/`When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again', which reached the Top 5 in most states during November 1960. Her debut single was actually `Starry Eyes'/`Soldier Soldier Won't You Marry Me' in February 1960.

She recorded two more moderately successful singles for the Rex label, `Rendezvous'/`Fickle Fingers' (February 1961) and `Tammy'/`Little Sir Echo' (August 1961), and then signed direct to Festival for `Ice Cream Man'/`Over in that Happy Land' (September 1961). Throughout that time, Batley toured with artists like Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joye and the Joy Boys, Johnny Chester, Lucky Starr and The Allen Brothers. She was named Australia's Top Female Vocalist of 1961.

 Following four more singles, `Steady Johnny'/ `Letter Full of Tears' (March 1962), `Don't Play No. 9'/`Crying Fool' (June), `Ten Lonely Weekends'/`My Boy' (March 1963) and `Surfer Boy'/ `Forgive Me' (February 1964), Batley scored her second biggest hit with `My Little Treasure from Japan' (#24 in October 1964). The original Japanese version of the song, `Kon Nichi Wa Akachan', had already sold over a million copies in Japan. Batley's version was issued in Japan and sold over 60 000 copies. When Batley toured there during 1965, she was well received. `Tears Of Farewell' also sold 60 000 copies in Japan.
 




Batley began to move into cabaret, and recorded seven more singles for Festival in Australia before travelling to the UK in 1969. She recorded one single in England (`Seabird'/`Let It Stay this Way'), toured throughout Europe and represented Australia at the Brazil Popular Song Festival held in Rio de Janeiro. Batley later settled in the USA and retired from regular performing.