In the 1950s, Final Year students at North Sydney Boys High School used to put on a ‘Fifth Year Review’. It was a final contribution to school life before they left and proceeded to the next phase of their lives.
In 1957, one of the acts on the Programme was a Jazz Band that played under the name of the Falcon Street Five. The members were Geoff Yates, tpt, Stan May, cl, Bob Moorhead, tb, David Rubie, p, and John Wyndham, d.
A packed School Hall was treated to a tremendous and unforgettable series of jazz performances. Those present still recall vividly what in many cases was their first experience of live
jazz.
After leaving school, the band continued to perform under the name of the Falcon Street Five, but that later morphed into ‘The Falcons’, continuing the link to NSBHS.
I questioned whether the band ever recorded their music, and a check of the CD Rom of Australian Jazz on Record by Jack Mitchell listed one recording of 12 tracks, made on the 11 July, 1970. There were a few personnel changes and on this recording Geoff Yates, trumpet, Stan May, clarinet, tenor sax, Graham Grant, piano, Arthur Pikler, bass, Tony Proudfoot, drums.
Jack Mitchell commented that the above 12” LP had no label name nor Catalogue number, so it was probably not released, nor has it been widely played for many years.
A check revealed that the Australian Jazz Museum did not possess a copy of the recording.
It transpired that Stan May, now a resident of South Queensland did have and has provided a copy which will be sent to The Australian Jazz Museum Archive at Wantirna, Victoria.
Jim Cattlin, Old Falconian and a Jazz Presenter on 2RRR-FM 88.5 FM, has a copy of the music he sourced from Geoff Yates, and I now have the music on MP3 for inclusion on Monday Classic Jazz in an upcoming 2RRR-FM programme.
It is a great pleasure to again listen to jazz that provided so much pleasure so long ago and was an influence in creating interest in traditional jazz. Thereafter, places like The Ironworkers Hall, The Criterion Hotel, Adams Jazz Room, The Vanity Fair, The Strawberry Hills, The Coronation, The Orient and other Sydney establishments were one’s source of aural pleasure, and so it remains.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE SYDNEY JAZZ NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2025 EDITION