Artist Features
JGT Talks To Sydney’s Tony Barnard
Tony Barnard has recorded forty-seven albums and has performed all over the world. JGT contributor Joe Barth talks to Tony.
JB: Your dad was a well-known trumpeter in Melbourne. Is that what led you toward playing jazz?
TB: In a roundabout way, our house was always full of music, My mother played classical piano and loved opera, my sister played the pop music of the day and there was always jazz played, on record, and often live in the house. My Grandparents were also musicians and had a dance band in the 1930s. My grandmother played stride piano really well and Grandfather played sax, drums, and banjo. It was a great musical education in listening. What the family did in jazz certainly led me to where I am today, but I also played classical guitar and enjoyed other forms of music.
JB: Did you study jazz guitar in college and if so, what did you appreciate most about that era of development?
TB: I learned jazz by listening to records and forming my own jazz band. When I was seventeen, three other guys who were older than me and who taught me a lot but a band together. But where I learned the most was from sitting in with older generation bands, my heroes, in Sydney, and being told things like “You’ll hear it,” or “No, it’s a diminished chord in the second bar” and sweating through the sets frantically trying to hear the chord changes of a song I didn’t really know. Those older musicians were generous and kind to me. It really helped train my ears to listen for all the musical surprises. They are fantastic memories for me now.
JB: What brought about your move to London around 1995?
TB: I moved to London because my then girlfriend, now my wife, who is Irish, had to go back home, as her visitor’s visa had expired. Thus began a new and musically rewarding chapter in my musical life. Having to break into an entirely new scene (and the jazz scene in London is big), was a challenge at first but luckily for me, I was soon working all over the place with some of the finest musicians in the UK. I’m still blown away by that.
JB: To you, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums and why?
TB: There are so many jazz albums that were influential, thousands, but for me personally, I guess Barney Kessel’s Autumn Leaves album. His playing is just amazing, chord voicings and phrasing are unique to Kessel, and he really swings. A lesson in every album, Joe Pass’ (so many albums!!) Intercontinental. Joe Pass is the consummate player and his playing on this particular album influenced not only me but many of the guitarists I grew up with in the Sydney area. He was so effortless in everything he played.
Last but not least, Irish guitarist Louis Stewart and bassist Peter Ind’s Baubles, Bangles and Beads album. I had never heard of Louis Stewart or Peter Ind before a friend gave me this album. I was knocked out by the fluidity of Louis’ guitar playing and the free interplay between both players became a benchmark for me. I was amazed and delighted to record with these last two in 1998, it was a dream come true for me.
JB: You have worked with some famous musicians. Let me ask about a few, tell us about performing with…
…Barney Kessel?
TB: When I was just eighteen or nineteen, I had a regular graveyard shift at a well-known jazz club in Sydney, ‘The Basement’ I used to play from midnight until 3 am. It happened that Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis were booked to play there for a week. Needless to say, I was blown away. I got to know both of them through this gig and Barney would hang out after his gig and listen to me (I have no idea why!!). He ended up sitting in on my gig three nights in a row and coming back to my place afterward to jam. I was in jazz guitar heaven. I learned a lot in a short time just by sitting next to him and watching his fingers like a hawk.
…Howard Alden?
TB: I was booked to do a week with the lovely Howard Alden at the Boisdale jazz club in London and we got on really well from the first note. (Howard had also played with my father Bob in the USA some years previously). Working with Howard was so easy, he is such a fine accomplished player on the 7-string Benedetto guitar he uses. We had a great time playing together and I made him laugh when I bought my 21-string harp guitar one night and I said to him, “OK Howard, tonight I have more strings than you.” He just gaped at it and took some pics, everything was in good fun. We recorded an album at the end of the week with London bass player Simon Woolf, all first takes. What a delight and pleasure to have worked with such a wonderful musician.
…Stevie Winwood?
TB: Back in the late 1990s I was performing in London with my father Bob’s quartet. We were supporting the great Brazilian guitarist Jose Neto’s band. Jose let me sit in with them and one night Stevie Winwood bought his organ to sit in as well. So, I got to play with him and hang out, not so much working with him as impromptu jamming. He was a lovely man and we got on well musically and personally. That was the great thing about working at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club. I got to meet and play with so many wonderful players.
…Earl Hines?
TB: Earl Hines, what can you say? Going back to the Basement Jazz Club in Sydney and my graveyard shift gig, Earl Hines was booked for a week there. Once again, surprisingly he stayed back to listen to me and took a shine to me. He blew my tiny young brain away when he asked me to come early the next night and sit in with his band if I’d like to… If I’d like!! I did and my nerves were all shot to pieces, but he was very supportive of my youth and just kept grinning at me. I got to play “Misty” with him. Talk about luck!
JB: Tell us about the ten years you were the staff guitarist at Ronnie Scott’s club in London.
TB: I managed to get the gig of guitarist in the Ronnie Scott’s Big band (later the Ronnie Scott Jazz Orchestra) through the leader Pete Long, a man of extraordinary talent and wit. We had worked together before and out of the multitude of guitarists in London, I was amazed that he asked me. During those years the band played with a host of stars, including Buddy Greco, John Faddis, and Curtis Stigers to name just a few. We even played at Elton John’s 60th birthday party. It was like a who’s who of the 20th century. Amazing! It was the best time of my musical life. We did hundreds of gigs and toured Europe and the Middle East. The repertoire was enormous, everything from the beginnings of jazz right through to today. Some of the charts were very challenging and I remember having to sight-read Mike Sterns’ “Gossip” Yikes…! That was tricky. I enjoyed every moment of trepidation. The band was and still is roaring and full of the cream of UK musicians. I used to think as the band was roaring and swinging like nobody’s business ‘I’m in this band’ accompanied by a big grin on my face. This little boy from Bondi neighborhood in Sydney is very grateful to have had the experiences I had with those musicians.
JB: What do you appreciate most about the guitar that you use?
TB: I use an Australian-made Maton GG22 archtop guitar, with Bill Lawrence pickups, custom-made for me in 1980. It has a great sound and the action is superb. I have learned everything I know about jazz guitar on this instrument. It’s a great workhorse and has traveled the world with me to over 25 countries. Also, amazingly enough, I have never had to have a neck adjustment or fret job in all those forty-odd years. It is the most reliable instrument I’ve ever owned and to top it all off, it looks great too.
JB: What do you find rewarding playing the 21-string harp guitar?
TB: The 21-string harp guitar is a thing of magic and beauty. It has changed my whole outlook on guitar playing in general. There is so much you can do with all those extra strings. Fortunately, I have a classically trained left hand which made it easier to learn when I first got one. I have four of them now and also a harp ukelele! The Emerald Guitar company in Donegal, Ireland who endorsed me, has made me two wonderful carbon fiber harp guitars. It is such a rewarding instrument to play as the range is huge and unless you experience playing one for yourself, it is very difficult to describe. I love them. I have been lucky enough to meet and perform with some of the best harp guitarists in the world. The harp guitar community is a big wonderful friendly family.
JB: You returned to Australia in 2020, so talk about the jazz scene in Sydney and how you are able to make a living playing music there.
TB: The Jazz scene in Sydney is not as good as when I left all those years ago in terms of the number of venues. But there are some absolutely fabulous players performing all over the place. The venues may have lessened but the musicianship, especially the younger generation is second to none.
Since returning to Australia, I have been doing gigs around Sydney and out of town, playing mostly with my brother Adam, who is a great jazz drummer. I usually go out with my quartet and with other quartets and guesting at different jazz clubs. I have also been performing on Harp guitar with the fabulous Casey Golden on piano, playing jazz, but not as you know it. We have an album on Bandcamp called Inventions which has sold pretty well. I enjoy these gigs the most these days playing mostly original music with some standards sprinkled in there occasionally. I also do a bit of teaching now, which I find very rewarding in a way that I didn’t years ago. At my age, I guess I am better at getting to the point of explanations of musical questions. I also like to make it fun and like to laugh. I find it a bit annoying when musicians, or anybody really, take themselves too seriously. I teach for Jazz Workshops Australia based in Sydney which is a fantastic place for jazz studies. I’ve been teaching the summer week-long jazz camps, taking master classes, combos, and big bands, Some of the young up-and-coming players are astounding and I know that jazz is in good hands.
I’ve had a great musical journey through life and music has always been a great friend to me.
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