Andrew Bisset
Encyclopedia
Andrew Bisset was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n author, music educator and singer, based in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

.

Author

Andrew Bisset was particularly noted for his excellent book Black Roots White Flowers - A History of Jazz in Australia, which traces jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 influences and performances from the early days of visiting African American Vaudeville shows and Jazz Teas at the Tivoli, through to the year of publication - 1979.

As a follow-up to the book, he presented a ten part series on ABC Radio National in 1987 on the History of Australian Jazz up to World War Two.

Performer

As performer, Bisset was loved for his natural stage presence, dry humour and wit, and uncanny sense of comic timing and delivery. His theme song in later years became My Baby Just Cares for Me. Audiences also craved his version of Bobby McFerrin
Bobby McFerrin
Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...

's Don't Worry Be Happy, in which he sang the lead during his time with a cappella group The Singing Waiters.

Bisset suffered from a severe arthritic condition for most of his life, but he never allowed this or other medical problems that emerged later on to impede his love of life and his unstoppable energy and enthusiasm for getting things done.

Further reading

  • Bisset, Andrew: Black Roots White Flowers - A History of Jazz in Australia. Foreword by Don Burrows
    Don Burrows
    Donald Vernon Burrows, AO, MBE is an Australian jazz and swing musician, playing the clarinet, saxophone, and flute....

    . Sydney and Auckland, Golden Press 1979.

  • Sharpe, John: A Cool Capital: The Canberra Jazz Scene 1925-2005. Foreword by Mike Price. Canberra Publishing and Printing 2006.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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