Graeme Bell

Graeme Bell (1914-2012) was a pianist, band leader and composer. Later known as the Father of Australian Jazz, Graeme was a jazz fan and avid record collector from a young age. He was educated in jazz through listening to records, watching jazz in Fawkner Park Kiosk, and under the guidance of William “Bill” Miller, keen cultural commentator and broadcaster. Graeme had led a number of bands by 1947, and also helped to organize the first Australian Jazz Convention in 1946. This tour was the first of many international tours for Graeme, and he is credited with driving a style of jazz which was uniquely Australian.

Ade Monsbourgh

Ade Monsbourgh (1917-2006), known as ‘Lazy Ade,’ was a highly accomplished multi-instrumentalist, specialising in saxophone, clarinet and trombone. Ade became a jazz fan alongside classmate Roger Bell, and had already formed and played in several bands, served in the RAAF, and established the Australian Jazz Convention by the time he travelled to Prague in 1947. This tour further solidified Ade’s already excellent reputation, and put him on a path to playing with other Australian greats, including Frank Traynor and Len Barnard. His unique approach to timing, harmonic line and timbre became known as the “Australian” style.

Lou Silbereisen

Lou Silbereisen (1916-2000) had become involved in the Melbourne jazz scene as a bass player in the 1930s, before serving in the RAAF in WWII. After returning in 1945, he took up tuba and began playing with Graeme Bell’s band. Lou was most known for his part in Graeme Bell’s Dixieland Jazz Band, and was described as playing with “splendid dexterity.” Once Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band disbanded, Lou only played casually, appearing on Roger Bell and Ade Monsbourgh’s later records.

Jack Varney

Edward John “Jack” Varney (1918-2008) was a talented guitarist and banjoist. He played in dance bands in his teenage years and eagerly adopted jazz as a fan and musician. He first played with Graeme Bell at the Heidelberg Town Hall in 1943, before he was invited to come with the band on their 1947-48 European tour. Jack’s life was dramatically shaped by this tour, as it was where he met and married his wife, Marie. After returning home with his wife, Jack began teaching music, eventually opening his own school.

Roger Bell

Roger Bell (1919-2008) was a trumpeter and cornetist. He became a jazz fan as a teenager alongside classmate Ade Monsbourgh. He converted his brother Graeme, and together they developed a life-long obsession with traditional jazz. By 1947, Roger had already played a number venues, including at the first Australian Jazz Convention in 1946. Described by his peers as “happy and infectious,” Roger was considered a solid musician and a great interactive player. This first international tour would launch Roger’s career, paving the way for playing with Australian jazz greats Smacka Fitzgibbon and Len Barnard.

Russ Murphy

Described as a ball of energy, Russell “Russ” Murphy (1920-2010) was a talented jazz drummer, dentist and accountant. He served during WWII and returned home in 1946. He had first joined Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band in 1940. Upon returning home in 1948 he studied accountancy and did not return to professional music. Russell’s son, John (1959-2015) also played drums, and was involved in the Australian and British post-punk movement.

Pixie Roberts

Don “Pixie” Roberts (1917-1992) was a reeds player who began learning jazz in 1934. He worked with Lou Silbereisen in dance bands before meeting Graeme and Roger Bell, and remaining with the band until they disbanded. The 1947 tour greatly influenced Pixie’s musicality as he leaned into dynamic improvisation, ‘dirtier’ jazz and a less mechanical sound.

In February 1947, Harry Stein, leader of the Eureka Youth League in Melbourne, and a co-organiser of the first Australian Jazz Convention in 1946, called Graeme Bell and asked “How would you like to take the band to Prague?” This was the beginning of Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band’s tour to Czechoslovakia for the World Youth Festival. Joining artists, performers, athletes, and political thinkers from all over the world, Graeme, Roger, Ade, Lou, Jack, Pixie and Russ would be the only representatives from Australia.

With troops still returning from WWII, ship fares were at a premium, costing twelve weeks wages. The band fundraised frantically for six months in preparation for the trip.

The band set out for Czechoslovakia on 3 July 1947 aboard the converted troop carrier, the SS Asturias. By all accounts, it was miserable, with cramped quarters and a difficult captain.

“[The sleeping quarters] were, most certainly, not converted. We had troopship accommodation, colloquially called ‘standee,’ and it resembled a prison…four hundred men in our quarters were restricted to about one-tenth of the ship’s living space.”

Complaints were met with intransigence from Captain B. K. Berry – “I am one of His Majesty’s servants. Any criticism of me and my actions is criticism of the Crown, and that is treason!” – Graeme Bell, Australian Jazzman.

After about six weeks at sea, the band arrived in the Port of Southampton. The journey from London to Czechoslovakia was filled with missed connections, travel woes, and translation mishaps. Harry Stein misplaced their ticket to Boulogne, France, and they had to sneak onto the train amongst a large group of British delegates to the Festival. They then missed their train to Prague when translation issues resulted in nowhere to store their over fifty pieces of luggage!

Views of the ship
Photographer unknown; 3 July 1947

 

This trombone originally belonged to Roger Bell, who bought it from a pawn shop and loaned it to Ade.

 

Digitised poster courtesy of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Roger Bell’s handwritten chord book, containing chords for common jazz numbers. Chord books had many uses, and Roger’s was likely used as a quick and convenient reminder of the composition of common numbers he played as a professional musician.

The real work began when they finally arrived in Prague on 4 August 1947. They played the World Youth Festival until 17 August 1947, the first of its kind, intended to protest the “horrors of fascism” against Europe, and in particular, the persecution of protesting Czech students by Nazi Germany in 1939. Graeme said of the festival:

“Young people of all nationalities filled the streets and restaurants…the air was full of colour, hope, youthful peace and comradeship…” – Graeme Bell, Graeme Bell, Australian Jazzman.

After the festival, they played a series of shows across regional Czechoslovakia and in September 1947, Mel Langdon, their manager, scored them a month-long residency at the Kavarna Fenix (Café Fenix).

Playing every night was exhausting, and the weather turned, Roger found himself longing to move on, and relieved at leaving Czechoslovakia at last:

“Living here at the moment is living in a sort of mentally demoralizing hiatus. Now that the cold winter is here, you’re forced to keep a lot indoors, and there is no social life here at all.”

“…Seeing that warm high coloured French landscape again in the morning sun, we all felt a tremendous relief and lightening of spirits. I’m tremendously glad I saw Czechoslovakia, but I never want to see it again.” – Roger Bell, 1947-48 Trip Diary. ID 22508.

It was a short stop in France before moving on to England in December 1947. They were hired for their first performance at Birmingham Town Hall by jazz heavyweight Louis D. Brunton. Breaking into the English live jazz scene was difficult at first, with booking agents unwilling to take a chance on an unknown Australian band. Things improved slowly, and they went on to become in demand, playing almost every night in February 1948, and regularly throughout England, Holland and Belgium, between December 1947 and July 1948.

Mel Langdon; 10 September 1947, collected by Horace Meunier Harris

This postcard was made and printed in Czechoslovakia, showing Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band playing in the World Youth Festival. On it, Pixie writes to his friend about their recent recording for Supraphon and tours of the area:

“We just finished 3 weeks of 1-niters. 6 towns in all – reception [was] bloody fantastic! We pull out of here on or about Dec 4th…Next stop France for 2 or 3 weeks. And England about Dec 28th.”

Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band recorded for Supraphon on 23 September and 13 November 1947. They recorded twelve tracks over the two dates. The tracks were recorded on only two microphones, pictured here.

The recording session started uncomfortably, and it took the band some time to settle into the rhythm of each track. They were used to having the immediate feedback of a live audience, and their limited knowledge of Czech made it difficult for them to communicate with Supraphon’s engineers. Eventually, they relaxed into the room and the music. Ron Gates, who witnessed their September recording, wrote:

“When the jazz is great it fills the room, warms up any pieces of meanness that are kicking around, and builds a stage for more high-flying.” – Ron Gates, Jazz Notes, June 1948.

Czechoslovak Journey
Graeme Bell & His Dixieland Jazz Band
Supraphon, Czechoslovakia; 1947
ID: 33226

Diary kept by Roger Bell during the band’s time in Czechoslovakia, France and England, beginning on 18 November 1947. Roger describes his feeling of malaise in the last few weeks of their time in Czechoslovakia.

“Living here at the moment is living in a sort of mentally demoralizing hiatus. Now that the cold winter is here, you’re forced to keep a lot indoors, and there is no social life here at all. Why don’t I want to get back to the roots I have in Australia[?] Some sort of escapism perhaps, which again may be good or bad.”

He also talks of the joy and excitement in having fun and exchanging ideas and perspectives with Czech youths.

“Before long we started to see something we’d been longing for, ever since we got here. Everybody got high, and started to race around getting up to gags, and splashing paint about. More wine kept coming up, and the daylight dies out into night outside…How marvellous to meet some young intelligent Czechs who believe in going mad.”

Roger Bell’s cornet
Made by Buescher Band Instrument Company, USA; c. 1975-80; ID: 30264

Roger Bell purchased his first Beuscher just prior to WWII. He wrote in his memoirs:

“The war had started by now and I just had time to get a Buescher cornet trumpet out from America before the embargo was imposed on the importation of musical instruments.”

This cornet was owned by Roger at a later date, manufactured in 1975-1980.

 

Czechoslovak Journey
Graeme Bell & His Dixieland Jazz Band; Supraphon, Czechoslovakia; 1947
ID: 10056
English release of the album recorded in Prague, 1947.

 

Lou purchased this tuba in London in 1948, after having issues with the tuba he brought to Europe from Australia.

“The upright tuba I bought in Melbourne was high pitch. To make it low pitch I’d added two bits of garden hose on to the tuning slide; I did at least half a dozen sides of the Supraphon recordings with that…I sold it when we went to London and bought a good one from Boosey and Hawkes.” – Lou Silbereisen, as quoted by Graeme Bell, Graeme Bell, Australian Jazzman.

He went on to play this tuba on subsequent records with Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band.

The combination of activity and stagnation bred creativity and inspiration among the band members. Graeme and Roger, talented composers in their later years, both wrote compositions around the European tour which were featured on the record “Czechoslovak Journey,” released by Czech record company, Supraphon. Graeme’s was the title track, and Roger’s was called “Walking Wenceslaus [sic] Square,” after the main square in the World Youth Festival.

The band’s love of jazz manifested in a desire to spread jazz far and wide. They were unimpressed with what they thought was a snobbish attitude to jazz in London. Graeme Bell said:

“[Jazz is] the breaking free of the restrictions, rigidity and seriousness of European music. It was a protest against locked doors, and came bursting out with all the joy and happiness of sunshine, the whole function of the ‘classic’ jazz was being ignored, and the celebratory joining together of listener and musicians was missing.” – Graeme Bell, Graeme Bell, Australian Jazzman.

In the spirit of the joy and happiness of jazz, they opened the Leicester Square Dance Club above the Café de l’Europe in Leicester Square, London on 2 February 1948.

 

Ralph Venables, British jazz commentator, writing on witnessing the band perform at the Leicester Square Jazz Club:

“You clear that last flight of stairs two at a time, wheel sharp right – and suddenly your eyes and ears are smiten [sic] by the full glorious force of Graeme Bell’s Australian Jazz Band. It’s like coming out of a cold dark cave into the bright warm sunlight…You stand at the threshold, drinking in a scene which never fails to thrill…”

Goanna March; Composed by Graeme Bell; 1951; ID: 18345

Handwritten copy of Goanna March, composed by Graeme Bell in 1951, while on his second tour of Europe. Many musicians devoted themselves to reproducing American jazz greats like Louis Armstrong. Roger and Graeme Bell also developed their own music. With dozens of compositions between them across their careers, Roger and Graeme were pioneers in the creation of a uniquely Australian jazz.

“…it is important to realise how unique this was, that Australian jazz musicians were composing their own works. This was some 20 years before the emergence of substantial Australian jazz composition…[they] were very much pioneers in the development of an Australian jazz repertoire.” – Eric Myers, 1989

Roger Bell used only a few trumpets, and this Selmer trumpet was used at the height of his career. The serial number on this trumpet indicates it was made in 1948-1949, so he may have purchased it while on tour with the Graeme Bell Dixieland Jazz Band.

For jazz musicians like Graeme Bell, seeing other performers and being able to collaborate and learn from others was essential. During his time in Europe, Graeme sought out and played with new and established musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Claude Lutner and his Lorientals and Humphrey Lyttelton. Graeme Bell, on playing with Claude Luter and his Lorientals:

“Not an afternoon did we miss while we were [in Paris] and when they invited us to play, the crowd went wild…you would have thought we’d been playing together for years. What a wonderful brotherhood. We couldn’t talk to each other much, but we didn’t need to; we were bound together by something far more universal than language.”

 

Graeme Bell met Humphrey Lyttelton at his first performance in England, at the Birmingham Town Hall. Shortly after this, Humphrey Lyttelton and his newly formed band filled in for Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band at Leicester Square Jazz Club while they toured more of France and Britain.

Graeme saw Dizzy Gillespie and his big band play on the band’s third visit to Paris, recording for Pacific.

Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band departed London on 9 July 1948, just over a year after their journey began.

The tour had been a resounding success. They had brought live jazz to Europe, been broadcast on Czechoslovakian and British radio, played sold-out shows throughout England, and played alongside some of Britain and France’s best jazz musicians.

They had also started to develop a distinctive style which came to be known as “Australian” jazz.

“The Bell band had been the first major cultural export from Australia to Europe. In many parts of Europe it was the first jazz band heard live, and it inspired the formation of bands and jazz clubs in its wake. It left behind the enduring conviction that its loose, exuberant approach…constituted a distinctive Australian jazz style, and it was acclaimed as one of the world’s most convincing jazz groups, surpassing many American bands.” – Bruce Johnson, Oxford Companion to Australian Jazz.

Returning to Melbourne with international acclaim, Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band were engaged to play as part of the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) Celebrity Recitals – the first non-traditional group to be involved in this program. Though many music critics were still skeptical of jazz, they were welcomed by young Australian audiences, selling out many shows as a part of this tour.

They maintained this momentum by sponsoring Rex Stewart, trumpeter for the Duke Ellington Orchestra to front a tour of the east coast of Australia in 1949. Graeme, Lou, Roger, Pixie and Mel Langdon also founded Swaggie Records, a record company which became one of the most prolific jazz record labels in Australia.

This unprecedented popularity and critical success were only the beginning for the band, and in particular, Graeme and Ade, who would continue to influence and contribute to Australian jazz for decades to come.

Avid jazz fan and jazz club founder Shirley House kept a scrapbook of Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band’s performances at the height of their fame.

Upon their return to Australia, Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band were welcomed back with excitement. They played a welcome back parade upon their return to Port Melbourne on 9 August 1948. They were overwhelmed with the amount of attention their tour had garnered, and they were sought out for interviews, endorsements, and commentary.

By the time the band returned from their travels, they were internationally known. This fame allowed them to sponsor Rex Stewart – former trumpeter for the Duke Ellington Orchestra – to come to Australia and play with them on a six-month tour, including the Fourth Australian Jazz Convention.

“Night after night, I responded with a rush of goose pimples to his passionate rendering of [his composition Mobile Bay]. It said everything about Rex Stewart – and something about his race. Deliriously tender at the start, the notes suppressed by the cup mute were barely audible, trying to escape but kept firmly under control. Then there were moments when the hand of the oppressor was caught off guard and plaintive notes cried forth, to be released. The brief insurrection was extinguished and the sounds all but suffocated…Finally the music could no longer be held in subjection and all hell broke loose in a cadenza of brute strength brazenly proclaiming the right to life.” – Graeme Bell, in Graeme Bell, Australian Jazzman.

Postcard from George Tack to Roger Bell

While in London, Roger became friends with George Tack. George later appeared on Roger’s record Roger Bell and his Pagan Pipers.

This record was one of the first to be released under the Swaggie label, a record company co-founded by Roger Bell, Pixie Roberts, Ade Monsbourgh, Lou Silbereisen, Mel Langdon and Graeme Bell.

Elizabeth Bell advertises Kellogg’s Bran Flakes.
The Australian Women’s Weekly; 2 April 1949. Digitised advertisement courtesy of the National Library of Australia.

Elizabeth Bell, Graeme Bell’s wife, was approached to endorse Kellogg’s new cereal, Bran Flakes, in 1949. This advertising campaign featured the wives of several famous musicians and broadcasters. Elizabeth appeared in three editions of The Australian Women’s Weekly in 1949.

Ade Monsbourgh’s plastic alto saxophone
Made by Grafton; c. 1951; ID: 12063

This plastic sax was gifted to Ade on his second tour to Europe with the Graeme Bell Jazz Band, in 1951-52. This saxophone is rare, as it was one of the first attempts at producing a functional saxophone using plastic. The body of the instrument was injection moulded, with metal keys attached. However, plastic was found to be less durable than traditional metals, and plastic saxes were difficult to tune. In 1968, all tools and machinery required to manufacture this Grafton sax were sold for scrap and destroyed.

Riverina Dreams; Roger Bell; 1951Riverina Dreams is Roger Bell’s original composition, written in 1951, while on his second tour of Europe (1950-1952) with Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band.

Roger Bell and his Pagan Pipers
Roger Bell, George Tack, Rex Green, Smacka F. Fitzgibbon, Bud Baker, Lou Silbereisen, John Sangster
Swaggie Records, Melbourne, Australia; 1950
ID: 11173
Released under the Swaggie record label, this was one of Roger’s first releases independent of Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Jazz Band.

Recorder in Ragtime
‘Lazy’ Ade Monsbourgh,
Swaggie Records, Melbourne, Australia; 1954-1962; ID: 10124
Released under the Swaggie record label, this record forms a compilation of tracks where Ade plays recorder.