S2 E43 JAMES (JIM) BAILEY, Drummer/Percussionist/Music Educator & First Australian awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Education Award from the International Percussive Arts Society

BAND IT ABOUT - Podcast Series

Drummer/Percussionist/Music Educator James (Jim) Bailey joins me in The Engine Room to discuss his fabulous musical journey both in Australia and overseas. Jim first became interested in music while living in England, he wanted to play the clarinet, but the school didn't have any available, so he was given a piccolo to take home to try. He didn't have much luck with this instrument, so he returned it to the school and then went back to playing sports which he was very good at. It wasn't until after his family had emigrated to Australia and he injured his foot during a game that Jim's interests once again returned to music, this time he decided to try drums, having seen an advertisement for a free aptitude test at the Adelaide College of Music. He began private drum lessons after meeting the drummer Jimmy Latta at the Boomerang Club. Jimmy introduced him to the world of modern jazz, making him aware of the playing styles of many of the world’s greatest drummers. Jimmy moved to Canberra after joining the Australian Army Band. Jim then began to have lessons with one of Adelaide’s leading players Gary Haines. Gary was a studio musician for Channel 9, and he also ran a business called Drumsville in Club Lane, which was the place that all of the young drummers would hang out. It was during this time that Jim decided that a music career was the path he wanted to pursue, so he quit his job and you took up part time work in the record department at David Jones. In 1965 he successfully auditioned to attend the Elder Conservatorium Single Studies program in classical percussion, where he was taught by Richard (Dick) Smith, who was a timpanist for the South Australian Symphony Orchestra, Dick ran the percussion program at the Conservatorium.

Jim is regarded as one of Australia’s leading teachers of classical and Latin percussion as well as jazz drumming. He has performed and taught throughout Australia, the United States, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. A short list of his credentials includes: Performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic; the Durban, Natal Symphony Orchestra; the Australian Youth Orchestra; the Australia Ensemble Lights; the Elder Conservatorium Wind Quintet and the Elder Conservatorium Wind Ensemble. His festival appearances include the Adelaide Festival, Barossa Festival, Manley Jazz Festival, Glenelg Jazz Festival, Standard Bank Jazz Festival in Pretoria, South Africa and the Living Treasures Festival 2000 in Durban South Africa. He toured South Africa with the world music group Warkala, performing and conducting master classes and workshops for the Australian High Commission and in fund-raising concerts for the relief of AIDS in children in South Africa. He is also Australia’s foremost authority on the tuning and construction of mallet instruments — marimbas, vibraphones, and glockenspiels. All marimbas used in the group were made by him.

Throughout his long career Jim has made an outstanding contribution to the percussive arts and education both here and overseas and has trained some of Australia's top percussionists during his teaching career as the Percussion Senior Lecturer and Head of Percussion at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. In 2011, Jim became the first Australian to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Education Award from the International Percussive Arts Society. The award recognises the contributions of the most highly regarded leaders in percussion education throughout the world. Prior to Covid, Jim spent many years traveling to be a guest speaker and teacher at various educational organizations worldwide.

Music "Band It About" written and recorded by Catherine Lambert & Michael Bryant. "Ghanaia" written by Schmitt Matthew, performed by the Hormingo Ensemble.

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