John Sangster
Encyclopedia
John Sangster was an Australia
n jazz
composer, arranger, drummer
, cornettist and Vibraphonist
born in Melbourne
, most well known as a composer though also a gifted multi-instrumentalist
. Sangster worked with virtually every big name in Australian jazz during his career, a list of musicians that includes Graeme Bell
, Humphrey Lyttleton and Don Burrows
, among others.
He played trombone with Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band, later taking up the cornet, and then drums. He toured several times with Bell between 1950 and 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 '60s. 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, 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 and in 1970 joined the Burrows Group once again, 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. Sangster also was the composer of a large number of scores for television documentaries
, films, and radio
slots (including The Funky Phantom
).
In 1988 he published his autobiography Seeing the rafters. Sangster died in Brisbane, Australia on 26 October 1995 at 66.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
composer, arranger, drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
, cornettist and Vibraphonist
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
born in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, most well known as a composer though also a gifted multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
. Sangster worked with virtually every big name in Australian jazz during his career, a list of musicians that includes Graeme Bell
Graeme Bell
Graeme Emerson Bell AO MBE is an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader...
, Humphrey Lyttleton and Don Burrows
Don Burrows
Donald Vernon Burrows, AO, MBE is an Australian jazz and swing musician, playing the clarinet, saxophone, and flute....
, among others.
He played trombone with Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band, later taking up the cornet, and then drums. He toured several times with Bell between 1950 and 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 '60s. Sangster formed his own quartet and experimented with group improvisatory jazz, after he became interested in the music of such musicians as Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
and Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
. He rejoined the Don Burrows Group briefly in 1967 when they represented Australia at Expo 1967 in Montreal, Canada.
In 1969 Sangster began to work with rock musicians and he joined the expanded lineup of the Australian progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
group Tully
Tully (band)
Tully was an Australian progressive rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s which had a close association with the Sydney-based film/lightshow collective Ubu.-Formation:...
, who provided the musical backing for the original Australian production of the rock musical Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
. He performed and recorded with Tully and their successors Luke’s Walnut, throughout the two years he played in Hair and in 1970 joined the Burrows Group once again, this time for Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan.
In the 1970s Sangster released a series of popular The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
inspired albums that started with The Hobbit Suite in 1973. Sangster also was the composer of a large number of scores for television documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, films, and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
slots (including The Funky Phantom
The Funky Phantom
The Funky Phantom was a Saturday morning cartoon, produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions by Australian production company, Air Programs International in 1971 for ABC.-Plot:...
).
In 1988 he published his autobiography Seeing the rafters. Sangster died in Brisbane, Australia on 26 October 1995 at 66.
Albums
- The Trip (1967)
- The Joker is Wild (1968, Festival Records)
- Ahead of Hair (1969, Festival Records)
- Marinetti (Original Soundtrack, 1969) reissued 2009 Roundtable Records
- Once Around the Sun (Original Soundtrack, 1970) reissued 2009 Roundtable Records
- Australia and all that Jazz volume one (1971, Cherry Pie Records)
- The Hobbit Suite (1973, Swaggie Records)
- Paradise volume one (1973, Trinity Records)
- Lord of the Rings volume one (1975) reissued 2002 by Move RecordsMove RecordsMove Records is an Australian record label that was started in 1968 by Martin Wright. It concentrates primarily in classical and jazz music, particularly Australian, and most frequently Melbourne-based musicians and composers....
- 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, Rainforest records) reissued by Move Records