Geoffrey Randolph Bull (born 26 May 1942, Sydney) is an Australian jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As of June 2017, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,230,330 and is home to approximately 65% of the state's population.
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".
A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop group or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music. Most bandleaders are also performers with their own band, either as singers or as instrumentalists, playing an instrument such as electric guitar, piano, or other instruments.
Bull played with the Melbourne New Orleans Jazz Band in 1961, then formed his own group, the Olympia Jazz Band, in Sydney; his sidemen included guitar/banjoist Geoff Holden, clarinetist Peter Neubauer, and bassist Dick Edser. The group played often at the Brooklyn and Orient hotels in Sydney. He toured internationally in 1966-67 and recorded with Alton Purnell, Barry Martyn, and Captain John Handy. He returned to New Orleans in 1974 and several times thereafter, recording with many local musicians. Additionally, he arranged for musicians such as Purnell and Sammy Price to tour Australia.
Alton Purnell was an American jazz pianist. He was a longtime performer in Dixieland jazz.
Barry Martyn is an English born jazz drummer, active principally on the New Orleans jazz revival circuit.
Captain John Handy, was an American jazz alto saxophonist. Handy's style was rooted in New Orleans Jazz but also incorporated elements of R&B.
