With the acquisition of one of my personal holy grails, I thought it was high time I paid dues to one of the unsung heroes of the Australian jazz scene, and one of the best Australian Hammond players ever. You'd be hard-pressed to find an Australian musician of any significance that Col Nolan hasn't played with. In his time he has been involved with the best of the best of Australian jazz, playing alongside The Daly-Wilson Big Band, Judy Bailey, John Sangster, Sven Libaek, George Golla, Col Loughnan and the list goes on.
1966 saw the Col Nolan Soul Syndicate release it's first LP entitled Crazy Crochet. The year indicates the sound in that it's very much a piece of mid-60s jazz. There's some cool mod moments on this record, but the funk is still a long way off in Nolan's arrangements on this release. Still a sought after and fairly rare record amongst collectors, I have nevertheless passed on copies of this LP when they have been offered to me. Give it a listen if you come across it though.
By far the rarest Col Nolan-related LP, the 1968 LP Whatever It's Worth may indeed be a question that can answered with the following statement: quite a bit! This incredibly rare piece of soul-jazz shows Nolan's interest in the groove emerging. The album features some strong covers as well as an original composition by each of the key players involved. Col Loughnan offers up the quirky Shades Of McSoul and John Sangster turns in Rivera Mountain. But it's Nolan's original title-cut that wins, with some blistering Hammond solos and heavy drum work underpinning this vamping groover. Even this doesn't trump the two killer covers on the album though. The upbeat cover of Sunny and the slow, brooding version of Ode To Billy Joe make this record hot property. It's rarity may well be due to it only being released for promotional purposes, and this seems likely given that the cover art is clearly a stock photo that was also featured on an unrelated release from the USA. I suggest you snap this LP up if you see it. I know of few copies in the hands of collectors. It's certainly taken me a while to find this one!
It wasn't until 1973 that the Soul Syndicate released new material, and Live At Jason's is Nolan's best-known and most accessible work. Despite being a live recording, the quality and fidelity of this release is on-par with any jazz-funk classic of the 70s. Scatting vocals interplay with some of the best Australian musicians of the time to deliver a groovy, upbeat and optimistic recording. The classic cut on this record is What's The Use, but there's a number of other great cuts on here too. Spunky Funk doesn't quite deliver the anticipation it's title promises, but it's a worthwhile cut nonetheless. Getting' It Together is a nice long funk cut and 4 Into 6 is pretty cool too. It's the overall strength of the album rather than any one stand-out cut that makes it a consistently sought-after release.
1973 also saw the release of the most sought-after Col Nolan-related recording. A single pressed on the Avan-Guard label combined the best funk cut from Live At Jason's with a similarly styled scat-funk burner only available on the B-side. It was Buckingham Palace that cemented Nolan's reputation as Australia's best Hammond player for many discerning record collectors. It's brilliance is matched by it's mythical grail status. Rumoured to be pressed in a batch of only 100 copies and sold over the counter at the venue after which the live album was named, it has remained almost impossible to locate. It appeared on the 1995 Ubiquity compilation that preceded the RespectOverdue series. The original issue of this 45 has a picture sleeve, but unfortunately my copy did not come with it. Thankfully the good people at Votary Records have made this great single available again on vinyl. Copies are still floating around, but given that it's a run of only 200, this is destined to be a sought-after record in itself.
In 1975, Col Nolan had teamed up with Errol Buddle to form the Nolan-Buddle Quartet, and under this name the duo released an LP of nice mid-70s Soul-Jazz. With Dieter Vogt on bass and Nolan's old mate Warren Daly on drums, the record looks promising. The quartet turn in some ok readings of cuts like Killing Me Softly With His Song and Feel Like Making Love. Buddle's throaty flute is well-placed on a few of the numbers on this record, and it seems to compliment Nolan's playing. This relationship is best evidenced on their moody reading of The Odd Couple with its understated Hammond work and groovy 70s vibe. The effort was produced by Sven Libaek and recorded in Sydney.
With a few line-up changes, Col changed the name of his group to the Col Nolan Quartet the following year and released his last worthwhile LP: Arrangements. There are some very strong covers of jazz standards on this album, and despite the ease with which one can pick this up, it stands as some of Nolan's best work. Take Five in particular is a brilliant rendition, and the modal jazz cut Fixation also makes this an essential Australian Jazz release. I had hoped that he would have returned to some of his Soul Syndicate-style funky jazz on this record, but because that sound remained conspicuously absent from this release, it's always been a record that I have found a little disappointing. Don't let that put you off it though!
Nolan also released a single from the Arrangements LP, but oddly, it's credited to the previous incarnation of his group, the Nolan-Buddle Quartet. While a version of Picnic At Hanging Rock appears on Arrangements, it's not the same one as the single, which features the composition spread over two sides as part 1 and 2 (an uncommon practice with Australian singles). The Chris Neil-produced side has a traditional take on the A-side, but part two is really just a funkier reading of the original melody. It's definitely worth a listen, and not hard to find either.
