Len Barnard
Len Barnard (1929–2005) was one of Australia’s finest jazz drummers, as forceful in traditional settings as he was discreet and propulsive with brushes in the mainstream.
Len “Sluggsie” Barnard was born in Melbourne in 1929 and died in November 2005. One of Australia’s finest jazz drummers, he received an honorary life membership of the Musicians Union, was added to the roll of honour at Monsalvat in 1990, and won the Australian Critics Award at the 1991 Gold Coast Festival.
After playing drums in the family band, he formed his own traditional jazz band in the late 1940s. One of the earliest Australian groups to make jazz records, it remained active for more than two decades. In the same period he also worked with other groups across jazz and dance music, and gigged and recorded with many musicians, including Ade Monsbourgh and Dave Dallwitz.
In the early 1970s he relocated to Sydney, playing with leading musicians including Errol Buddle and John Sangster, and joining Galapagos Duck under Tom Hare. He also appeared on occasion with bands led by his younger brother, Bob Barnard. In the late 1990s he remained active with many varied artists and appeared on record with several of them, including Janet Seidel.
A twenty-minute recorded interview with Len discussing his work with John Sangster is among the extras on volume 2 of The Lord of the Rings (MD 3252).
Len Barnard is featured on the following titles
The Last Will and Testament of John Sangster
Tony Gould, Len Barnard, Graeme Lyall and friends honour one of Australia's unsung jazz heroes. These final Sangster scores, played by leading colleagues, form a warm and fitting tribute.
Len Barnard also appears on
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 5: Ripper
The fifth and final volume in John Sangster’s jazz series of suites, written for a lively little orchestra that gathers some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians around his vibraphone writing.
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 4: Take That
Volume four of John Sangster’s Jazz Music Series finds his “lively little orchestra” of leading Australian jazz players in a ten-movement suite of wit, swing and colour.
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 3: Steady Lads
Third in John Sangster’s series of suites for a lively little orchestra of some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians: ten pieces of small big-band writing with Sangster on vibraphone.
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 2: Requiem (for a loved one)
Volume 2 of five suites by John Sangster, played by his fine small orchestra of leading Australian jazz musicians. A 1980 requiem for Janice Patricia Byrnes, nicknamed Bo Diddley.
Jazz Music Series, Vol. 1: Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Doo-wup
As John Sangster put it, "Here is the first in a series of Suites written for this lively little orchestra, a gathering that includes some of Australia's finest jazz musicians."
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3
The third volume of John Sangster's classic jazz epic after J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. First issued by EMI as a double LP more than twenty-five years earlier, this ambitious Australian trilogy reaches CD for the first time here.
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2
The second volume of John Sangster's classic jazz epic on The Lord of the Rings. First issued by EMI as a double LP more than twenty-five years earlier, this music reaches CD for the first time in this Move reissue.
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 1
Not Howard Shore's film score, but Australian jazz and film composer John Sangster's ambitious 1970s musical portrait of Tolkien's characters and events, restored here on a double CD more than twenty-five years after the original EMI LPs.