A Review of the Victorian Jazz A

On Sunday the 27^th of September, 2009 Mr Tony Newstead opened this fantastic exhibition, at the Victorian Jazz Archive at Koomba Park, 15 Mountain Highway, Wantirna 3152. This exhibition has been created by the AJC Archivist Don Anderson OAM and his wife Margaret with assistance from Victorian Jazz Archive (V.J.A.) members and is dedicated to all musicians, committees and jazz enthusiasts who have contributed to this unique event. The exhibition is open to the public Tuesday and Fridays from the 29th September from 10.00 a.m. to 3.00. p.m.

All photographs and exhibition pieces are from the AJC archives. This exhibition would never have occurred without the vision of Ade Monsborough A.O. who wrote a four page letter on October 9th, 1944 to C. Ian Turner. The letter which is on display, was mostly about collecting and swapping jazz records, as these were extremelly rare at the time and in the course of the letter Ade stated “....And I have plans after the war for a terrific Jazz Convention (the first in history.)”

Large photographic exhibits cover the A.J.C. from the 1st convention in 1946 and focus on the musicians (it is after all – a musician’s convention!) but also on various characters of the convention, general snapshots of faces from the conventions and of course the regular convention events such as the street parades, the picnic and faces of the fiftieth convention in Melbourne in 1995. The 18th AJC held in 1963 at Kew, Vic., also has quite an extensive range of items on display.

Convention badges feature on display, and as Don Anderson commented to me, it is interesting to note how much bigger the badges have become from the early years to now. Special displays incude programmes, t-shirts, various banners and posters and news reports. Including some sensationalism from Glenelg!

It was pleasing to see John Pickering and John Cummins recognised for their contributions to the colour and success of so many street parades.

As we come to the 64th Australian Jazz Convention to be held at La Trobe University in Melbourne between 26th December—31st December, 2009 this is a very timely exhibition for Convention goers and Jazz lovers. During the Convention on Tuesday the 29th the V.J.A. will be open for a comprehensive tour of the Archive and this exhibition. Morning and afternoon tea will be served and buses will be provided for conventioneers to go to Wantirna.

The Exhibition will also be open on the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd of January post - Convention from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will return to regular opening hours 10.00 am – 3.00 pm Tuesday and Fridays until the end of March 2010.

The 16 page booklet about “The History of the AJC” is available for $2 a copy, from the Archive and the forthcoming AJC at La Trobe University.

We encourage you to come an enjoy this visual history of the Australian Jazz Convention – see if you can spot yourself or friends and to just reminisce about all the good times jazz musicians have given us here in Australia. Alert your local jazz club to the exhibition as many jazz club members are also regular conventioneers.

Thanks once again to Don and Margaret and their helpers for putting together such an enjoyable exhibition.