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AFTER A WHILE

The chance to record two of the South Australia’s living jazz legends, Bruce Gray and Ted Nettelbeck for the South Australian Jazz Archive was not only a challenge, but also a great privilege. The idea of bringing Bruce Gray and Ted Nettelbeck together came from another of South Australia’s legendary musicians, the late Maurice Le Doeuff. Maurie heard Bruce and Ted playing as a duo at the Hilton Hotel in Adelaide when the South Australian Jazz Archive arranged an afternoon to celebrate Maurie’s life in music. Both Ted and Bruce have had a long association with Maurie and his admiration for their playing was obvious.

The challenge of bringing Bruce and Ted together into a recording studio to produce a CD, initially, seemed quite daunting. They had not played together in a formal sense for over twenty years and, musically, they had gone in quite different directions. While both men had certainly moved with the times, Ted had adopted a far more contemporary approach to his music, and indeed, is today regarded as one of Australia’s most outstanding modern jazz pianists and composers. Bruce on the other hand, had not strayed from his more traditional and mainstream roots, although at one stage his bands (and his playing) took on a more modern-day American West Coast character.

The grant provided by the Australia Council to the South Aus Jazz Archive to record Bruce and Ted could not have been more timely. Bruce Gray is now in his eighty-first year and is in the twilight of his performing days. Ted Nettelbeck on the other hand, although he has just turned 70, is still in the forefront of the modern music scene in Adelaide, appearing regularly with bands such as Schmoe and Co. and his own trio. The making of this CD also brought together other generations of jazz musicians: drummer, Laurie Kennedy, commenced in the sixties and, representing the present generation, bassist, Sam Zerna and trumpeter, Andrew Gaetjens, both of whom are still in their twenties.

THE GRAY-NETTELBECK ALL STAR FIVE

Bruce Gray, clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones; Ted Nettelbeck, piano; Sam Zerna, bass; Laurie Kennedy, drums and Andrew Gaetjens, trumpet.
Recorded Saturday 26^th August and Monday 18^th September 2006 at Concordia College Chapel, Adelaide.