The ten piece ensemble Ten Part Invention was an inspirational and innovative part of the Australian Jazz scene for three decades from the mid 1980s.  Jazz writer and critic John Shand described them as the Rolls Royce of Australian jazz. Mick Paddon is about to launch a new podcast featuring the band titled The Making of Australian Jazz: Ten Part at the Kakadu.

The podcast is centred on a recording of a live performance in 1988. It’s brought to life by the voice of Ten Part’s founder, band leader and drummer John Pochee. John introduces the band and its music in 1988 then, thirty years later, he reflects on forming the band. We also hear from the two musicians who were the youngest members of the ensemble when it formed . Saxophonist and composer Sandy Evans and trombonist James Greening.

The recording of the band was unearthed in a box of cassette tapes. The box was donated to Eastside by the family of Wally Wrightman, after his death , as part of his collection of music   For years, Wally’s unmistakable voice delivering a wealth of music anecdotes made him one of the station’s most popular jazz presenters. 

Mick Paddon and Phil James from Eastside went through cassettes.  In total there were recordings of 21 performances between 1987 and 1993 by different  ensembles playing in 7 venues.  The recordings captured a really significant  period in the development of the local and national jazz scenes in Australia so they were hoping to make them public

Unfortunately, they found that the quality of most of the recordings was so poor that they cannot be broadcast. But best recording was of Ten Part Invention playing at the Kakadu club in Sydney  in July 1988. 

Mick Paddon interviewed John Pochee about Ten Part not long before John’s death in 2022.  He also managed to interview Sandy Evans and James Greening together while they were grabbing a quick bite to eat before a gig. He produced the podcast , interweaving the voices of John, Sandy and James with four long pieces from Ten Part’s performance

The podcast, which runs for 70 minutes, will go to air for the first time on Time and Space at 12.30 on Thursday March 26th. After that it will be available as a podcast on the Eastside Radio website.