Graeme Bell

Graeme Emerson Bell, AO, MBE (7 September 191413 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. Australia, to John Alexander Bell, His younger brother, Roger Bell (1919–2008), was also a jazz musician.

From the age of 12, Bell had weekly piano lessons in classical music by Jesse Stewart Young, a contemporary of his mother. His parents paid for the piano lessons for the first four years. Bell's first recordings were for William Miller's Ampersand label in 1943. With sponsorship from communist Harry Stein's Eureka Youth League, they toured Czechoslovakia for four and a half months in 1947, including playing at the World Youth Festival in Prague. "The Lizard", an improvisation recorded in the studio for Regal Zonophone Records in June, was Bell's first composition. 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".

During the early 1950s Bell periodically returned to UK and Europe from Melbourne to perform, a later line-up of Australian Jazz Band was Roger Bell (trumpet), Kitchen, Ade Monsbourgh (trumpet & alto), Pixie Roberts (clarinet), Baron Silvereisen (Bass & Tuba) with Norman "Bud" Baker (Guitar & Banjo), Deryck "Kanga" Bentley (Trombone) and Johnny Sangster (drums and cornet). On 1 May 1951 they appeared at Oxford Town Hall. On 15 September 1951, this line-up recorded a concert with Big Bill Broonzy at the Robert Schumann Saal in Düsseldorf, Germany; which was later released as Big Bill Broonzy in Concert with Graeme Bell & his Australian Jazz Band. In the 1960s, a trad jazz boom in UK encouraged Bell to form the Graeme Bell All Stars and tour there. Bell recalled his approach with the band:

I inherited some of my parents' showbusiness ability to operate from the stage, talk to the audience [...] that was the creative period of my life, really. And I learnt how to try and get the best out of musicians to produce a band and produce a sound. My own piano playing became quite secondary to the whole thing. Bell was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 1997 with The Bee Gees and Paul Kelly. By 1999, Bell had made over 1,500 recordings and performed in thousands of gigs in Australia and internationally.

Discography Albums Top of the Town – 1950 (EMI) Cakewalkin' Babies Back Home – 1951 (EMI) Inside Jazz Down Under – 1954 (Angel) Jazz Series I – 1961 (Zyp) This was a 2 EP release which was free from Zyp Softdrinks. Jazz Series II – 1962 (Zyp) This was a 2 EP release which was free from Zyp Softdrinks. Down Town with Graeme Bell – 1974 (Festival) Graeme Bell All-Stars – 1980 (Jazzology) Czechoslovak Journey – 1983 (Swaggie) Paris 1948 – 1983 (Swaggie)

Honours and awards Bell was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 1 January 1978 for "valuable service to jazz music" and an Officer of the Order of Australia on 11 June 1990 for "service to music, particularly jazz".

The Australian Jazz Awards, or "The Bells", which commenced in 2003, are named in his honour. At the inaugural ceremony on 28 August, Bell inducted his former band member from 60 years earlier, Ade Monsbourgh, into the Graeme Bell Hall of Fame.

ARIA Music Awards The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Bell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2006, Bell received the JC Williamson Award, the LPA's highest honour, for their life's work in live performance. 2006 Himself JC Williamson Award