JOHN SANGSTER

John Grant Sangster was born in 1928 in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham as the only child of John Sangster (1896–1975), a clerk and World War II soldier, and Isabella Dunn (née Davidson, later Pringle) Sangster (1890–1946). He attended primary schools in Sandringham and Vermont, and then Box Hill High School. While at high school he taught himself to play trombone and, with a friend, Sid Bridle, formed a band. In 1946 he started a civil engineering course at Melbourne Technical School.

In 1948 Sangster performed at the third annual, Australian Jazz Convention, held in Melbourne. By the following year he led his own ensemble, John Sangster's Jazz Six, which included Ken Evans on trombone. Sangster provided trombone for Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band, later taking up the cornet and then the drums. He toured several times with Bell from 1950 to 1955, playing in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Korea. In the late 1950s he began playing the vibraphone, which he found "combined the percussive qualities of the drums with the melodic capability of the trumpet". He played with Don Burrows in the early 1960s. 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. He rejoined the Don Burrows Group briefly in 1967 when they represented Australia at Expo 1967 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In 1967 Sangster released his debut album 'The Trip' on Festival. Produced by Pat Aulton it had some great players on it: George Golla on guitar, Sven Laebek on keyboards, Ed Gaston on double bass and Len Hutchison on electric bass. The next album 'The Joker Is Wild' followed in 1968. Assisting him on this one was: George Thompson and Ed Gaston bass, Graeme Lyall and Don Burrows on woodwinds and George Golla on guitar. Also, in this year he released the single ''Going Out Of My Head / Love Is Blue''.

In 1969 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. He performed and recorded with Tully and their successors, Luke’s Walnut, throughout the two years he played in Hair. In 1970 he re-joined the Burrows group, this time for Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan.

In the 1970s Sangster released a series of popular The Lord of the Rings inspired albums that started with 'The Hobbit Suite' in 1973. He was also the composer of a large number of scores for television shows, documentaries, films, and radio slots (including Hanna-Barbera's The Funky Phantom). In 1988, Sangster published his autobiography, Seeing the Rafters. He died in Brisbane, Australia, on 26 October 1995 at age 66. 

SINGLES 
''Going Out Of My Head / Love Is Blue'' 1969 Festival

ALBUMS 
'The Trip' 1967 Festival
'The Joker Is Wild' 1968 Festival
'Ahead Of Hair' 1969 Festival
'The Hobbit Suite' 1973 Swaggie
'Paradise Volume One' 1973 Trinity
'Dingo-King (An Australian Allegory)' [with Ivan Smith] 1975 RCA
'Lord Of The Rings' 1975 EMI
'Lord Of The Rings Vol. 2' 1976 EMI
'Lord Of The Rings Vol 3' 1977 EMI
'Double Vibes: Hobbit' [with Alan Lee] 1977 Swaggie
'For Leon Bismarck Volume 1' 1977 Swaggie
'Landscapes Of Middle Earth' 1978 EMI
'Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Doo-Wup Doo-Wup Doo-Wup Doo-Wup' 1980 Rain Forest
'Requiem (For A Loved One)' 1980 Rain-Forest
'Meditation' 1980 Rain-Forest
'Peaceful'3 1980 Rain-Forest,
'Uttered Nonsense (The Owl And 1980 The Pussycat)' [with Ivan Smith] 1980 Rain-Forest
'Fluteman' 1982 Rain-Forest

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sangster