The Red Onion Jazz Band

The Red Onions Jazz Band
Cover of the first LP 12 inch vinyl disc by The Red Onions Jazz Band, 1965
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Trad Jazz
Years active	1963–1964, 1965–2008
Labels	W&G Records

The Red Onion Jazz Band (c. 1963–2008) was a trad jazz band formed in Melbourne (Australia) in the early 1960’s and was also known as "The Red Onions” and "The Onions".

Formation

The Red Onions Jazz Band was formed around 1963 by Allan Browne, who was taking lessons from Melbourne University Jazz Band's drummer, Norm Hodges, and Brett Iggulden who was taking trumpet lessons from Ade Monsbourgh, then one of Australia's leading jazzmen. The original lineup, drawn largely from the Sandringham and Brighton suburbs of Melbourne consisted of Allan Browne, drums; Brett Iggulden, trumpet; Kim Lynch, tea-chest bass; Bill Howard trombone; Felix Blatt, banjo, and John Pike, piano, while Brett’s sister ‘Sweet Sal’ (who later married Browne and became a clothes designer) was an occasional addition on washboard. John Funsten, another pupil of Ade Monsbourgh, was added on clarinet. They played New Orleans inspired traditional jazz and infused it with their own vitality, their fair for presentation and promotion and zany sense of humour.

Jazz standards were the material for their first job at St Michael & All Angels Anglican Church hall dance in Beaumaris, and by about April,1961, they were given a brief spot at the Melbourne Jazz Club; their first introduction to the Melbourne jazz scene and by June Corrine Kerby included them on her ABC T.V. programme. Let's Make a Date for which, at the insistence of Channel 2 executives a name change from their original 'Gin Bottle Jazz Band' to the more respectable Red Onion Jazz Band was made, the title chosen in honour of an early Louis Armstrong recording group. They opened then at the 'Oxford' Jazz Club, where they continued for six months, with Fred Charles on clarinet.

Success

In November, 1961, Geoff Thomas took over from Felix Blatt as banjoist and the band started the Red Onion Jazz Club in Brighton. They also played at the Downbeat Jazz Concert in 1962 before Fred Charles and Geoff Thomas left the band in October and were replaced by Gerry Humphries (born Brian Anton Humphrys, 1941, in Battersea, England) and Rainer Breit. After securing gigs at the Ormond R.S.L. Hall and Beaumaris Yacht Club, they joined the 17th Jazz Convention in Sydney in December 1962, where their long hair, formal wear, violins and mad vocals caused a stir. Returning to Melbourne they played Friday nights at the 'Newport' Jazz Club and on Saturday nights at their own venue ‘The Onion Patch' in Oakleigh. In early 1963, the group released their first 7” EP, An Impromptu Recital by the Amazing and Entertaining Red Onion Jazz Band on the tiny EAST (Elwood Audio Services Transcriptions) recording label, and it received conspicuous airplay on radio station 3XYs Jazz As You Like It program. John Pike left in March and for 11 months the band played without a pianist, but had a busy year of concerts that included Moomba, Myer Music Bowl, a 3-day tour of Tasmania including radio, T.V. and dance engagements in Hobart, as well as the 18th Australian Jazz Convention. The Red Onion Jazz Band At The 1963 Jazz Convention EP (their second recording) contains two vocal tracks; the bawdy sea-shanty ‘Barnacle Bill’, and a version of #REDIRECT Tommy Dorsey s ‘It’s Tight Like That’. Gerry Humphrys left the band for four months in June, 1963, and Jerry Salt, Derek Miller or Eddie Robbins replaced his clarinet, while Brett Iggulden took up alto sax for special numbers. Venues then included the 'Driftwood' Club and the 'Downbeat' Jazz Club where in February 17 year-old pianist Ian Clyne first sat in and thereafter became a regular member.

In July, 1964, The Red Onions signed with W&G Records who put out a well-received EP entitled The Red Onions At Home and they transferred from the 'Onion Patch' to the popular 'Campus' Club. They appeared again on TV for GTV9 and ATV0, most importantly on Graeme Kennedy’s influential In Melbourne Tonight. In November the band opened at ‘Opus' discotheque in South Yarra where it was estimated that more than 2,000 attended the first night. The entire band also featured at the 19th Jazz Convention in Newcastle.

After the Split

In early 1965, The Red Onion Jazz Band released their self-titled debut LP, with black-and-white cover art by tuba player Kim Lynch, however in October, three members, clarinetist, vocalist and occasional violinist Gerry Humphreys, Kim Lynch and Ian Clyne left, after three years of success, to play together the electric Rhythm and Blues that was beginning to eclipse jazz amongst younger audiences, especially after the visit of the Beatles to Melbourne in 1964. Humphrys and Lynch went on to form The Loved Ones.

After this split The Onions’ Brett Iggulden (trumpet and vocals), Bill Howard (trombone and vocals) and drummer Allan Browne persevered, joined by John Scurry (banjo and guitar) and Richard Miller (clarinet) in 1965. In 1967 the group left Australia for a 10-month, 50,000-mile tour of Europe. During the tour they played in jazz clubs, ball rooms, jazz festivals and on radio. on return to Australia they continued to appear on television, at balls and discoteques, jazz clubs, university concerts and fashion parades

The Red Onions finally wound up in 2008. A Red Onion Jazz Band exhibition opened by Allan Browne on 7 August 2010 at the Victorian Jazz Archive.

Discography

• Hot Red Onions (1965) 12" LP Disc. Publisher: White & Gillespie WG 25 2409
• Big Band Memories - THE RED ONION JAZZ BAND (1967) 12i" LP Disc released 15 Feb 1967. White & Gillespie W&G S 25 5065, also released by World Record Club (WRC R04192). Musicians: Brett Iggulden t v, Bill Howard tb v, Richard Miller cl, William Morris bb, John Scurry bj, Rowan Smith p, Allan Browne d v
• Creole Rhapsody (1969) 12" LP Disc. Publisher: SWAGGIE S 1247. Recorded in the Melbourne studio of Bill Armstrong Pty. Ltd., on 2nd and 16th March 1969. Recording Engineer: John Sayer. Recording Supervisor: Len Barnard. Musicians: Brett Iggulden t fh as, Bill Howard tb, Richard Miller cl ts, Rowan Smith p, John Scurry bj g, Conrad Joyce sb, Allan Browne d

Also featured on:

• THE GREAT JAZZ REVIVAL 12" LP Disc (Various Bands).Publisher: JAZZNOTE JR 1. The concert was held on the 24 Feb 1971 in tribute to the late Les Davis, and was recorded at the Kew City Hall and sponsored by the Victorian Jazz Club, proceeds were placed in a Trust Fund for the education of the Davis children. Brett Iggulden t as, Bill Howard tb, Dick Miller cl ts, John Scurry bj g, Conrad Joyce sb, Allan Browne d
• JAZZ BAND BALL (probably 1969) 12" LP Disc. Bands: The Campus Six, Tony Newstead and His Gang, Red Onion Jazz Band, Len Barnard's Famous Jazz Band, Lachie Thomson's New Whispering Gold Orchestra. Publisher: SWAGGIE S 1250. This record is part of the Jazz Maker's Series