15 Facts About Graeme Bell

Graeme Bell was the first Australian jazz band leader who was still playing at 90 years of age and the first Westerner to lead a jazz band to China.

The American music journal DownBeat said: "Graeme Bell's is unquestionably the greatest jazz band outside America".

Graeme Bell's younger brother, Roger Bell, was a jazz musician.

Graeme Bell's parents paid for the piano lessons for the first four years.

Graeme Bell attended Scotch College in 1929 and 1930, where he enjoyed playing cricket and creating contemporary art including sketches for the Scotch Collegian.

Graeme Bell paid for his own piano lessons for two further years, and in later years he supplemented his income by teaching.

Graeme Bell was converted to jazz by Roger, a drummer, later a singer and trumpeter.

Graeme Bell started playing jazz in 1935 with Roger at Melbourne dances and clubs.

Graeme Bell became leader of the house band for the Eureka Youth League and established a cabaret, the Uptown Club, in 1946.

Australian Jazz Band travelled to the United Kingdom in early 1948 and Graeme Bell started the Leicester Square Jazz Club, playing music specifically for dancing, which continued into the 1950s.

Graeme Bell was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame in 1997 with The Bee Gees and Paul Kelly.

Graeme Bell's younger brother, Roger Bell was a jazz musician; Roger is credited with influencing Bell to convert from classical music to jazz; they often performed, toured and recorded together.

Bell married three times; his first marriage was in c 1943 for about a year to Margot Byass, Bell later saying "we were victims of the war".

Graeme Bell was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1978 for "valuable service to jazz music" and an Officer of the Order of Australia on 11 June 1990 for "service to music, particularly jazz".

In 2006, Graeme Bell received the JC Williamson Award, the LPA's highest honour, for their life's work in live performance.