John Pochee

John Pochée, (b. September 21, 1940) is a Jazz Drummer and Bandleader.

John Pochée was born in Sydney, Australia in 1940.

His career as a professional musician began in 1956. He formed The Last Straw in 1974 and also played with the Judy Bailey Quartet from 1974 to 1979. Since the early 1980s he has played, recorded and toured internationally with The Engine Room, Ten Part Invention and Bernie McGann’s trios and quartets.

The Last Straw won an ARIA award for Best Australian Jazz Record in 1990 and the Bernie McGann Trio has won 4 ARIA awards for Best Australian Jazz Record.

John Pochée received the Australian Jazz Critics Award for Drums in 1990 and 1992, was elected to the Monsalvat Jazz Festival Roll of Honour in 1996 and was awarded The Graeme Bell Hall of Fame Career Achievement Award in 2006. As a drummer, bandleader and organizer he has played a major role in the history of Australian jazz.

Biography

Born in Sydney Australia in 1940, John Pochée began his musical career in 1956, playing at the El Rocco and the Mocambo, Sydney's major jazz venues of that time. In the 1960s he worked as a professional musician with various groups in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. In 1974 he formed The Last Straw and also played and recorded with the Judy Bailey Quartet from 1974 to 1979. The 1970s were an exceptional time for jazz in Sydney and these two groups were in big demand, working at most major venues including The Basement, Sydney Festival and Horst Liepolt’s “Music is an Open Sky” concerts

The original line up of The Last Straw was Bernie McGann and Ken James (saxes), John Pochée (drums and leader), Dave Levy (piano), and Jack Thorncraft (bass). Along with original material from Bernie McGann, Dave Levy and Ken James their repertoire also included pieces written by Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. When Dave Levy left the Straw in 1975 the piano chair was taken over by Tony Esterman, and the band's lineup generally remained intact for the ensuing years, the only personnel change being in the bass chair with Ron Philpott and then Lloyd Swanton taking over from Thorncraft in the 1980s. Apart from a three year break in the late seventies the Straw continued to play until 1999, a 25 year run as yet unequalled by any other contemporary Australian jazz group.

In 1987 The Last Straw recorded an album that won them an ARIA award for Best Australian Jazz Record (1990). They did three overseas tours, New Zealand (1988), Russia for the Australia Council for the Arts (1990) and the Montreal Jazz Festival (1989). In 1990 The Last Straw won First Prize for Best Band at the Leningrad International Jazz Festival.

Pochée's musical relationship with saxophonist Bernie McGann started in the early days of the Mocambo and the El Rocco and since the early 1980s he has been a member of Bernie McGann's trios and quartets, performing at Ronnie Scott's in London and concerts in Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, India and Malaysia in 1988, Russia in 1990 and Canada in 1993 and 1996. They also toured Europe in 1996 and the USA in 1997. Their recordings have won four Aria Awards for Best Australian Jazz Record and two Mo Awards for Best Jazz Group. In 2003 they expanded to a quartet with the addition of trumpet player Warwick Alder, touring Europe and the UK in 2004.

In 1986 he formed the ten-piece band Ten Part Invention, which was committed to performing exclusively the works of Australian composers. Over the years this band has recorded four albums and has performed at most major Australian jazz venues and festivals including the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and performances on national ABC television. This band has received numerous awards: three MO awards (1990, 1996 and 2000), the Australian Music Foundation Award (2000) and an Australian Music Centre Award (2000)., In 1994 they toured South East Asia for five weeks and also the Philippines, China and Taiwan in 1998. In September 2004 John Pochée led Ten Part Invention on a two week tour of the USA after the group were invited to the Chicago Jazz Festival, where he had performed with the Bernie McGann Trio in 1997.

The original rhythm section of Ten Part Invention was Roger Frampton (piano) Steve Elphick (bass) and John Pochée (drums) and this trio also achieved considerable success as the stand-alone unit The Engine Room. They toured Russia in 1989, being the first Western band to tour there following Glasnost, and they played at various jazz venues during the 80s and 90s, sometimes working as a quartet when joined by top Australian jazz musicians such as Dale Barlow, Warwick Alder and Daryl Pratt and with international artists Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, James Carter and Vincent Herring.

John Pochée has also played with many other high profile international jazz musicians including saxophonist Dewey Redman and pianists Barry Harris, Andrew Hill, Kirk Lightsey and Stan Tracey.

Over the years he has also worked prolifically as a freelance professional musician. He toured Australia and New Zealand with Shirley Bassey as her personal drummer in 1969 and 1970, and in the late 1970s and the 1980s was Musical Director for the successful show group The Four Kinsmen making 8 trips to the USA with them, appearing on The Bob Hope Show and performing in Las Vegas. At one time or another he has played with most Sydney jazz musicians, including performances with jazz group The Heads, The Ken James Reunion Band, The Chuck Yates trio, The Peter Boothman group and with vocalists Joe Lane and Susan Gai Dowling.

In 2007 John Pochée was elected President of the Professional Musician’s Club and he continues to work as drummer/bandleader with Ten Part Invention and jazz quintet The Space Cadets, as well as various other engagements as a professional jazz musician.

Discography

*1967 JAZZ AUSTRALIA 2 tracks with Bernie McGann Quartet (CBS)
*1974 ONE MOMENT Judy Bailey Quartet (Philips)
*1976 COLOURS Judy Bailey Quartet (Eureka)
*1983 JAZZ ACTION SOCIETY SESSIONS 1 track w. Ken James Re-Union Band (MBS-Jazz)
*1985 JAZZ at the SOUP PLUS 1 track w. Bernie McGann Quartet 1 track w.Peter Boothman Quartet (MBS-Jazz)
*1986 AT LONG LAST Bernie McGann Trio (International release) (Emanem)
*1987 KINDRED SPIRITS Bernie McGann Quartet w. Bob Gebert (International release) (Emanem)
*1988 FOR DUKE, MONK AND BIRD Stan Tracey and Don Weller (UK) (International release) (Emanem)
*1990 LENINGRAD JAZZ INTERNATIONAL As Co-leader The Engine Room Live at Leningrad Jazz Festival - 1 track(Soviet Union release) (Melodiya)
*1990 THE LAST STRAW As Leader The Last Straw (ARIA Winner) (Spiral Scratch)
*1991 TEN PART INVENTION As Leader Ten Part Invention (ARIA Nominated) (ABC)
*1992 UGLY BEAUTY Bernie McGann Trio (ARIA Winner)(Spiral Scratch)
*1992 WANGARATTA JAZZ VOLUME 1 1 track w. McGann Trio + Barry Harris 1 track w. Bernie McGann Trio (Suburu)
*1993 BEYOND EL ROCCO 1 track w. Bernie McGann Trio 1 track w. Bernie McGann Quartet (Vox Aust.)
*1994 TALL STORIES As Leader Ten Part Invention (Rufus)
*1995 McGANN x McGANN Bernie McGann Trio + James Greening (ARIA Winner) (Rufus) USA release- (Terra Nova)
*1995 BODGIE DADA 1 track w. The Last Straw 1 track w. Ten Part Invention (ABC)
*1996 FULL STEAM AHEAD As co-leader The Engine Room (ARIA Nominated) (ABC)
*1996 PLAYGROUND Bernie McGann Trio + Sandy Evans (ARIA Winner) (Rufus) USA release -(Terra Nova)
*1996 THE ARRIVAL Joe ‘Bop’ Lane. Two live tracks w.McGann,Dale Barlow, Bob Gebert (Spiral Scratch)
*1997 UGLY BEAUTY Bernie McGann Trio – re-release on new label. (Rufus)
*1998 RENT PARTY Susan Gai Dowling w. McGann Trio + David Levy (Rufus)
*1999 THE 1987 QUARTET Bernie McGann Quartet – re-release as CD (KINDRED SPIRITS) (Rufus)
*2000 BUNDEENA Bernie McGann Trio (ARIA Winner) (Rufus)
*2000 UNIDENTIFIED SPACES As Leader – Ten Part Invention (Rufus)
*2002 WHERE’S LOVE GONE Susan Gai Dowling w. Bernie McGann (Newmarket)
*2002 WANGARATTA LIVE Duet: John Pochee + Elliott Dalgliesh 1 track Bernie McGann Trio - 1 track (Jazz Head)
*2005 McGANN LIVE AT SIDE ON Bernie McGann Quartet (Rufus)
*2005 TEN PART INVENTION LIVE AT WANGARATTA As Leader – Ten Part Invention (ABC)
*2005 BLUES FOR PABLO TOO Bernie McGann Quartet (Rufus)
*2006 COLOURS Judy Bailey Quartet (re-release as CD) (Birdland)

External links

* [http://home.iprimus.com.au/pochee/ Ten Part Invention]
* [http://www.amo.org.au/artist.asp?id=1667 Bernie McGann Trio]
* [http://www.myspace.com/peterboothman A Story of Jazz in Sydney - by Peter Boothman]

References

Bissett, Andrew (1979) "Black Roots White Flowers - A History of Jazz in Australia". Golden Press Pty Ltd ISBN 0-85558-680-X

Bruce Johnson (1987) "The Oxford Companion To Australian Jazz" - Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 554791 8

Clare, John (1995) "Bodgie Dada and the Cult of the Cool". University of NSW Press ISBN 0-86840-103-X.

Resources

Information about recordings of John Pochée can be found at [http://www.musicaustralia.org/ Music Australia] , an online service developed by the National Library of Australia