FRED PARKES
| FRED PARKES ( Memoires by Dave Sep 2004 )
It was with a great deal of sadness that the jazz world heard the news of the death of one of Melbourne's most distinctive and distinguished jazz clarinettists, Fred Parkes. Fred took up the clarinet in his late teens and formed a quartet that played the church dances that were an important part of the social scene at that time. In the mid 50s he joined Len Barnard's Jazz Band, which was regarded as one of the hottest around the Melbourne scene. Bruce Johnson says in The Oxford Companion to Australian Jazz that this move involved a stylistic change away from the Goodman style towards Johnny Dodds, an adaptation which probably contributed to Parkes' strikingly distinctive style. It was a style that Tasmanian reeds player Tom Pickering called an engaging eccentricity. It was inventive, proudly individual, thoughtful, sometimes challenging, but always played with a beautiful tone. And it always swung. Fred was his own man. While with the Len Barnard Jazz Band ( which included a young Bob Barnard ), he performed on the Naked Dance album, a great, free wheeling sessions of Australian-style improvised traditional jazz, and still one of the best examples of Australian traditional jazz. More of his work can be heard on several more recordings from the 60s with Len Barnard's Famous Jazz Band. Fred also worked over the years with Kenn Jones Powerhouse, the Datsun Dixielanders, Peter Gaudion's Blues Express, and the New Melbourne Jazz Band in its early days. He was with the Powerhouse Band during its long residency at the Victoria Hotel in Middle Park, and went with the band when it performed at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. He was a member of, and recorded with, the Allan Browne Jazz Band in the mid 80s. He performed with his own New Rhythm Kings for the club on several occasions in the late 80s and early 90s. In the early 90s, Fred, along with long time friends and musical associates trombonist Bill Howard, pianist Graham Coyle and drummer Tom Carter started playing a late Sunday afternoon gig at Khyats Hotel to have some fun. It was totally spontaneous jazz, Nina Ferro sang, and, in the old Australian jazz tradition, sit-ins were welcome. It became a Mecca for musicians. You never knew who would line up for a turn. There were no charts, just the artistry of the musicians. It was the sort of pub gig that had not been seen for a long time and it became incredibly popular. I remember vividly a time when Sydney trumpeter Eric Holroyd appeared at the club and was staying with me. He was determined that on the Sunday, as well as going to hear Herb Jennings play near Ballarat, he would be taken to Khyats so he could sit in. Fortunately some live recordings of the Quartet were made, and a Cd, issued. Two of the most moving tracks that Fred recorded during this period were of the same tune, Some Sweet Day, both with Bill Howard, once at Khyats, the other in a studio session by members of the Red Onions Jazz band and friends, six months before Howard passed away. Fred was married to Mary Bould, the founding force of the Geelong Jazz Club. The Club has sent its condolences. Just a closer walk... |
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