Quirky songs about everyday life with lyrics to make you laugh. And beautifully played acoustic jazz at the same time.

11 MP3 Songs
EASY LISTENING: Lounge, JAZZ: Jazz Vocals

Show all album songs: Up Yours, Buddy Songs


Details:
âThe Mildly Interesting Adventures of Clive the Jazz Musicianâ

Clive took up the Double Bass after watching (and admiring) Barney Rubble in an episode of the Flintstones. His interest in bebop however, was piqued years earlier, whilst sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV watching the Three Little Pigs swinging away at the Do Drop Inn.

In the years BC (before children) Clive was the hot young bass player in the Sydney Jazz scene, dividing his time between playing bebop every night with the very best of Australian jazz groups, and electric bass by day in the studio as the most in-demand studio bassist in the country. In those days the busiest studio bass-player in the country earned a little less than a plumber, but more than a waiter.

He wanted to study Jazz improvisation and composition at the Sydney Conservatorium fulltime. Does that count? He kept enrolling but then pulling out because he had too many gigs to attend classes, and he was already playing in the bands of the Jazz faculty there. He gigged with jazz heavyweights Don Burrows, Kerrie Biddel, George Golla, Galapagos Duck and Crossfire and his own bands frequented the Basement and the tiny jazz clubs that abounded at the time. At times he was in up to 5 bands at once, but rarely at the same time, if that makes sense.

Clive holds the Australian record for âmost times hospitalized thru overwork collapsesâ â mostly Sydney Hospital, but with guest appearances at the Prince of Wales Randwick and Cedars of Lebanon Los Angeles. That was during a hectic 7 years in which he played on 3,500 TV commercials, 50 pop/rock albums and 15 feature film soundtracks by day and played in jazz groups into the wee small hours of the morning, when the whole wide world is fast asleep.

He âretiredâ from live jazz gigging in the late 80âs â exhausted - to concentrate on the âless strenuousâ world of composition. (Ha!) He sacked himself from all the bands he was in at the time, especially his own, hung up his basses, grew his hair long again, shaved off the goatee and over time, even stopped calling people âcatâ.

The next years were spent in the studio composing for television and raising a family.
Cartoon music has historically had a strong jazz connection, and it naturally became his specialty. He got real busy with composing Do Drop Inn style music, at the same time working on his Australian record (for most hospitalizationsâ¦..)

Fast Forward to 2006, Clive woke up one morning with the bug to play again â to reprise the role of Barney Rubble. Life was good, work as a composer plentiful and fulfilling, and a plan was devised to play again, but this time, without the hospitalizations. It had to be acoustic jazz, bebop, swing and latin jazz, and it had to be with his life long jazz buddy, pianist Michael Bartolomei.

The bass had to be a SASE â a custom hand made instrument of pure joy made by master Luthier Neville Whitehead. The scale size is the same as a full size bass â 41 inches, but the little body allows it to be transported in a drop-top Beemer - vital to the plan.

The composition of the music was a total surprise to Clive. He meant to compose an album of serious, intense jazz instrumentals, but at every turn ludicrous lyrics presented themselves. Every instrumental beginning found a comical twist. All attempts to satisfy the highest realms of the jazz improvisational stratosphere were undone by his self-deprecating, ironic sense of humour.

Alas, âUp Yourâs Buddyâ is the result.

The sincere hope is that some brilliant Music Supervisor will boldly place one of the songs therein in an upcoming blockbuster. If / when that occurs, said Music Supervisor would be duly invited to holiday with Clive and his family somewhere nice.