Down Under’s Upbeat New Australian Jazz Orchestra

In the wake of the Bee Gees, “Crocodile Dundee,” Mel Gibson and Olivia Newton-John, jazz has just entered the U.S. as the latest significant Aussie export.

It takes the form of the Australian Jazz Orchestra, a specially assembled 13-man ensemble organized under the auspices of the Australian Bicentennial Authority. The band arrived in this country April 6 for dates at the Houston International Festival and clubs in Chicago and New York, gigs at the Smithsonian and in San Francisco and finally tonight’s date at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood.

The band is billed as an elite bunch of the greatest improvising jazzmen from Down Under. No one is the official leader, but by virtue of seniority the spokesman is Don Burrows, 59, the brilliant multi-reedman known around the world through his many jazz festival appearances.

“We’re really excited at having a platform like this for our young talent to be heard,” said Burrows. “The band has been together since New Year’s Day, when we kicked things off to an enormous audience--over 70,000--at Domain Park in Sydney. We just finished a coast-to-coast tour clear across Australia, and when we leave the States a few days from now we’ll continue working back home, winding up at Brisbane’s Expo ’88 in late June.”

Though Burrows and a few of the others have been in this country before, for most of the men this is a new experience. The band is rich in young blood: Trumpeter Warwick Adler, guitarist Doug DeVries, pianist Paul Grabowsky and trumpeter-trombonist James Morrison are in their early 20s.

Morrison has been hailed as a potential superstar; last year his virtuosic performance at the annual Dick Gibson Jazz Party in Colorado led to an American record deal. Following his appearances here with the AJO he will play concerts in tandem with the Polish pianist Adam Makowicz.

“The only bloke who lives here full time,” said Burrows, “is Dave Panichi, the trombonist, from Sydney. He was with Buddy Rich for years and also with Toshiko Akiyoshi. Dale Barlow, who plays saxes and flute, has been here too; he recorded in New York with people like Cedar Walton.”

Though Australia’s jazz associations are relatively unfamiliar to Americans, a group known as the Australian Jazz Quintet toured and recorded extensively in the U.S. in the mid-1950s. Burrows, an admirable clarinetist and arguably Australia’s best known jazzman, has made the festival scene from Montreal to Montreux to Newport; his track record includes gold disc awards and numerous Australian magazine poll victories. Queen Elizabeth in 1972 awarded him the MBE for his services to jazz.

Burrows was a main catalyst in establishing his country’s first jazz studies program at the Sydney Conservatorium. “I’m the chairman of jazz studies there now,” he says, “and some of our most promising students have written music that we’ve incorporated into the library of the AJO. Thanks to the Conservatorium, there’s a lot of wonderful unknown talent coming up.”

When the AJO members are not working as a unit, they tour and record with, among others, such visiting luminaries as Phil Woods, Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson and Cleo Laine. James Morrison by now is a name to reckon with at home, as he no doubt will be in the States when his first record is completed in the next few months.

Asked whether Morrison’s American successes might lead to his settling here, Burrows said: “Not really. James is like me and most Australians. We’re funny people--we love to travel and visit, but Australia offers too much in terms of life style that we always like to go home again.

“When we go out of the country, we have the opportunity to hear and maybe sometimes play with the players who are our idols. But people like James and me are the outdoor types--we love to be out swimming, fishing or sailing, playing golf or tennis, all those things that are second nature to us.

“A couple of years ago I had Eddie Daniels, the clarinetist, as a house guest. I took him fishing and had him playing tennis for the first time in his life. He couldn’t believe that a fellow clarinet player lives like this!

“It’s very hard to pass up the sort of life we lead. I guess you could say we Aussies are truly spoiled.”