James Hutchinson Davidson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Hutchinson Davidson |
| Also known as | Jim Davidson |
| Born | August 6, 1902 Australia |
| Died | April 10, 1982 (aged 79) |
| Genres | jazz |
James Hutchinson Davidson (1902-1982), was an Australian bandleader and jazz musician who worked for the BBC in England from 1947 to 1963.
James Davidson grew up in Birchgrove, New South Wales and began playing brass instruments in 1917 with the Compulsory Military Training Band. [1] He played drums and cornet and began to perform as part of cinema pit ensembles and dance bands. [2]
During the 1930s Davidson led the Jim Davidson Dance Band which performed nationally on ABC Radio. [1] Columbia Records released hundreds of records of his performances, [3] and between 1937 and 1939 his ABC band made three interstate tours. [2]
Davidson joined the Australian Imperial Force in 1943 and formed the Army Entertainment Group which led variety shows troops in the Middle East and the South-West Pacific areas during World War II. [2] [3] Jim Gussey took over as conductor of the ABC Dance Band. [4]
After the war, Davidson applied unsuccessfully for the position of Director of Light Entertainment at the ABC. In 1948 he was appointed Assistant Head of Variety and Musical Productions at the BBC, and moved to England. [5] He was responsible for supporting programs such as The Goon Show. [1] [6] He retired in September 1963 and returned to Australia. [2]
Davidson married Marjorie McFarlane, an artist, on 7 June 1935. They lived in Melbourne until 1948, when they moved to England. They returned to Australia in 1964 and worked together as house renovators and gardeners in New South Wales. [2]
Davidson died on 10 April 1982. [3] Prior to his death, he had been working on a memoir which was published posthumously as A Showman’s Story in 1983. [2]
Jim Davidson is an English comedian.
Jack Hylton was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario.
Jazz music has a long history in Australia. Over the years jazz has held a high-profile at local clubs, festivals and other music venues and a vast number of recordings have been produced by Australian jazz musicians, many of whom have gone on to gain a high profile in the international jazz arena.
Donald Vernon Burrows was an Australian jazz and swing musician who played clarinet, saxophone and flute.
Ivy Benson was an English musician and bandleader, who led an all-female swing band. Benson and her band gained prominence in the 1940s, headlining variety theatres and topping the bill at the London Palladium, and became the BBC's resident house band.
Victor Stanley Feldman was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as an adult. Feldman emigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s, where he continued working in jazz and also as a session musician with a variety of pop and rock performers.
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards were an annual Australian entertainment industry award, that where established in 1975, to recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia. They were last awarded in 2016.
Graeme Emerson Bell, AO, MBE 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'".
James Elbert Raney was an American jazz guitarist, born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, known for his work from 1951 to 1952 and then from 1953 to 1954 with the Red Norvo trio and, during the same time period, with Stan Getz. In 1954 and 1955, he won the DownBeat Critics' Poll for guitar. Raney worked in a variety of jazz mediums, including cool jazz, bebop, post bop, hard bop, and mainstream jazz.
Michael Andrew Carrington, is an Australian broadcast media executive who is currently Director, Entertainment and Specialist at the ABC based in Sydney, New South Wales. He oversees all national radio, television, and digital services including ABC TV (ABC1), ABC TV Plus (ABC2), ABC Me, ABC Kids plus ABC iview, ABC Listen, ABC Kids Listen, ABC Classic FM, ABC Jazz, ABC Country, and Radio National.
James "Jim" Gerald also known as James Gerald Diabolo was an Australian comedian, circus clown, acrobat, writer, director and troupe leader and filmmaker. He is generally regarded as one of the four leading post-World War I comedians to work the Australasian variety circuits, the others being Nat Phillips, Roy Rene, and George Wallace.
ABC Central West is the ABC Local Radio station for the Central Tablelands region, based in Orange, New South Wales, owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It broadcasts on 549 kHz on the AM band. The 549 kHz signal is one of the most powerful in Australia, with the coverage map on the ABC's reception website showing that the station can be heard in Northern Victoria and South Western Queensland during normal daytime conditions.
Ramer Lyra "Dulcie" Pitt, who performed as Georgia Lee was an Australian jazz and blues singer and actress from Cairns. She is credited with being the first Indigenous Australian artist to record blues songs with her album, Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under (1962).
The Lorrae Desmond Show was an early black and white, Australian television music and variety show, produced by James Upshaw which aired from 1960 to 1964 on the ABC hosted by singer and entertainer Lorrae Desmond, later best known for her role as Shirley Gilroy in soap opera/serial A Country Practice, who won the Gold Logie for the program. The Lorrae Desmond Show was a similar to The Dinah Shore Show in the US, with emphasis on live performances and dance numbers. The final episode aired on 27 April 1964. Over 20 episodes of the series are held by the National Film and Sound Archive
Daly-Wilson Big Band was an Australian jazz group formed in 1968 by Warren Daly on drums and Ed Wilson on trombone. The business manager and silent partner was Don Raverty. The line-up, at times, was an eighteen-piece ensemble, that played popular jazz cover versions and originals. Lead singers that fronted the band include Kerrie Biddell, Marcia Hines and Ricky May. They released seven albums and toured Australia and internationally before disbanding in September 1983.
Robert Graeme Barnard was an Australian trumpet and cornet player. He was nominated at the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 for Best Jazz Album for Live at the Sydney Opera House, which was recorded with the Australian Jazz Allstars.
The Chocolate Kiddies is a three-act Broadway-styled revue that, in its inaugural production – from May to September 1925 – toured Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. The show never actually performed on Broadway, but was conceived, assembled, and rehearsed there. Chocolate Kiddies commissioned new works, but was also an amalgamation and adaptation of several leading African American acts in New York, specifically Harlem, intended to showcase exemplary jazz and African American artistry of the Harlem Renaissance. Early jazz was uniquely American; and, while New Orleans enjoys popularity for being its birthplace, the jazz emerging from Harlem during the Renaissance had, on its own merits, captured international intrigue.
Ivor Moreton and Dave Kaye were an English musical variety double act who were known for performing syncopated piano duets together from the 1930s to 1950s. The duo consisted of pianists Ivor Arthur Moreton and David "Dave" Kaye, who had both been members of Harry Roy's dance band, the act developing from Roy's small group, the Tiger Ragamuffins. They played at two pianos, usually with Kaye carrying the melody, and Moreton embellishing it.
The Port Jackson Jazz Band were an Australian Dixieland jazz group formed in 1944 and based in Sydney. They were the longest running traditional jazz band in Australia and performed into the 1990s, though they had multiple breakups.
