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Bernie McGann

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Labels
  
Rufus Records

Origin
  
Sydney, Australia

Name
  
Bernie McGann

Genres
  
Jazz

Role
  
Saxophone player

Instruments
  

Bernie McGann wwwabcnetauradionationalimage44184103x4700

Born
  
22 June 1937Granville, New South Wales, Australia (
1937-06-22
)

Associated acts
  
The Last StrawBernie McGann TrioBernie McGann Quartet

Died
  
September 17, 2013, Sydney, Australia

Albums
  
No Conditions, Playground, No Exceptions, Always

Music group
  
Python Lee Jackson (1967 – 1968)

Similar People
  
Paul Grabowsky, Scott Tinkler, Stephen Magnusson, Gary Boyle, Duncan McGuire

Birth name
  
Bernard Francis McGann

Bernie mcgann australian national treasure


Bernard Francis "Bernie" McGann (22 June 1937 – 17 September 2013) was an Australian jazz alto saxophone player. He began his career in the late 1950s and remained active as a performer, composer and recording artist until near the end of his life.

Contents

Bernie McGann Bernie McGann Ausjazz Blog

Born in Granville, New South Wales, in Sydney's western suburbs, McGann first came to prominence as part of a loose alliance of modern jazz musicians who performed at the El Rocco Jazz Cellar in Kings Cross, Sydney in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He had an enduring collaboration with drummer John Pochee.

Bernie McGann Bernie McGann Ausjazz Blog

During the 1960s and early 1970s, McGann (like many other local jazz players) also performed with rock and pop groups and as a session musician, and ca. 1970 he was a member of the Sydney rock-soul band Southern Comfort.

Bernie McGann Jazz saxophonist Bernie McGann dead at 76

He led the Bernie McGann Trio and Bernie McGann Quartet through his career. The most well-known lineup of the Trio was McGann (alto sax), John Pochee (drums), Lloyd Swanton (bass), with the addition of Warwick Alder (trumpet) in the quartet.

Bernie McGann Original and inventive giant of the alto sax The Australian

McGann died on 17 September 2013, following complications from heart surgery. He was 76.

Bernie McGann Jazz musicians lament the loss of a cherished elder

Bernie mcgann chuggin


Career highlights

Bernie McGann Bernie McGann RIP Exiled Off Main Street Roots

  • 1974 – Founding member of The Last Straw (jazz group).
  • 1980–82 – Played support to US jazz artists, including Freddie Hubbard, Lester Bowie, and Dave Liebman.
  • 1981 – Played and recorded with US saxophonist Sonny Stitt.
  • 1983 – Studied in New York on a grant from The Australia Council.
  • 1986 – Bernie McGann Trio toured Australia with US saxophonist Dewey Redman.
  • 1987 – Toured with The Last Straw to Tasmania. Recorded two albums, one trio and one quartet, for Emanem which received critical acclaim internationally
  • 1988 – Toured Australia and USA with the Australian Jazz Orchestra, a special Bicentennial project. Feature artist in award-winning documentary film Beyond El Rocco. The Last Straw tour of New Zealand jazz festivals with an Australia Council international touring grant. Bernie McGann Trio played at London's famous Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, before touring jazz festivals in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, India and Malaysia.
  • 1989 – Solo artist at Auckland's Jazz & Blues Festival. Appeared with The Last Straw at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada. Performed with Nat Adderley
  • 1990 – Toured USSR with The Last Straw, performing to enthusiastic audiences at jazz festivals including Leningrad
  • 1992 – ARIA award for Bernie McGann Trio CD 'Ugly Beauty', Spiral Scratch MO Award for Bernie McGann Trio in Jazz Group of the Year
  • 1993 – Toured Canadian Jazz Festivals
  • 1994 – Australian Mo Awards for Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year.
  • 1995 – ARIA award for Bernie McGann Trio CD 'McGann McGann' on Rufus Records, which featured McGann originals
  • 1996 – Toured Canada and Europe including Northsea Jazz Festival and Munchener Klaviersummer.
  • 1997 – Bernie McGann Trio appeared at the Chicago Jazz Festival. ARIA award for Bernie McGann Trio CD Playground (Rufus Records).
  • 1998 – Wins the Don Banks Music Award, the first time it has been awarded to a non-classical musician/composer. Launch of biography Bernie McGann: A Life in Jazz by Geoff Page (Kardooraire Press)
  • References

    Bernie McGann Wikipedia


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