John Sangster

John Grant Sangster (17 November 1928 – 26 October 1995) was an Australian jazz composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as a composer although he also worked with Graeme Bell, Humphrey Lyttelton and Don Burrows. His solo albums include The Lord of the Rings-inspired works starting with The Hobbit Suite in 1973.

Early years

John Grant Sangster was born in 1928 in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham as the only child of John Sangster (1896–1975), a clerk and World War II soldier, and Isabella Dunn (née Davidson, later Pringle) Sangster (1890–1946). In September of that year Sangster was charged with the murder and manslaughter of his mother, Isabella Sangster.

He was tried at the Supreme Court of Victoria in December and was found not guilty of both charges by the jury.

Professional career

In 1948 Sangster performed at the third annual Australian Jazz Convention, held in Melbourne. Sangster provided trombone for Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band, later taking up the cornet and then the drums. He toured several times with Bell from 1950 to 1955, playing in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Korea. In the late 1950s he began playing the vibraphone, which he found "combined the percussive qualities of the drums with the melodic capability of the trumpet" (Bisset, 1979). He played with Don Burrows in the early 1960s. Sangster formed his own quartet and experimented with group improvisatory jazz, after he became interested in the music of such musicians as Sun Ra and Archie Shepp. He rejoined the Don Burrows Group briefly in 1967 when they represented Australia at Expo 1967 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In 1969 Sangster began to work with rock musicians and he joined the expanded lineup of the Australian progressive rock group Tully, who provided the musical backing for the original Australian production of the rock musical Hair. He performed and recorded with Tully and their successors, Luke's Walnut, throughout the two years he played in Hair. In 1970 he re-joined the Burrows group, this time for Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan.

In the 1970s Sangster released a series of popular The Lord of the Rings inspired albums that started with The Hobbit Suite in 1973. He was also the composer of a large number of scores for television shows, documentaries, films, and radio slots (including Hanna-Barbera's The Funky Phantom). In 1988, Sangster published his autobiography, Seeing the Rafters.

He died in Brisbane, Queensland on 26 October 1995 at age 66. Lord of the Rings volume two (1976) reissued 2004 by Move Records Australia and all that Jazz volume two (1976, Cherry Pie Records) Lord of the Rings volume three (1977) reissued 2005 by Move Records For Leon Bismark volume one (1977, Swaggie Records) Double Vibes: Hobbit (1977, Swaggie Records) Landscapes of Middle Earth (1978) reissued 2006 by Move Records Uttered Nonsense - The Owl and the Pussycat (1980, Rain-Forest Records) reissued by Move Records Fluteman (1982, Rain-Forest Records) reissued 2013 by Move Records

With others Dig Richards, Harlequin (RCA Victor, 1971) Neil Sedaka, Workin' on a Groovy Thing (MCA Records, 1969)