John Grant Sangster was an Australian jazz composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist.
14 Facts About John Sangster
1.
2.
John Sangster is best known as a composer although he worked with Graeme Bell, Humphrey Lyttelton and Don Burrows.
3.
John Sangster attended primary schools in Sandringham and Vermont, and then Box Hill High School.
4.
John Sangster's mother swung a broom at him and he held up his arms to ward off the blow.
5.
In 1948 John Sangster performed at the third annual Australian Jazz Convention, held in Melbourne.
6.
John Sangster provided trombone for Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band, later taking up the cornet and then the drums.
7.
John Sangster toured several times with Bell from 1950 to 1955, playing in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Korea.
8.
John Sangster played with Don Burrows in the early 1960s.
9.
John Sangster formed his own quartet and experimented with group improvisatory jazz, after he became interested in the music of such musicians as Sun Ra and Archie Shepp.
10.
John Sangster rejoined the Don Burrows Group briefly in 1967 when they represented Australia at Expo 1967 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
11.
In 1969 John Sangster began to work with rock musicians and he joined the expanded lineup of the Australian progressive rock group Tully, who provided the musical backing for the original Australian production of the rock musical Hair.
12.
John Sangster performed and recorded with Tully and their successors, Luke's Walnut, throughout the two years he played in Hair.
13.
John Sangster was the composer of a large number of scores for television shows, documentaries, films, and radio slots.
14.
John Sangster died in Brisbane, Queensland on 26 October 1995 at age 66.