History of the Band John Maxwell Collie was born in Melbourne, Australia on 21st February 1931. He first heard traditional jazz at his school, Melbourne High School, in 1945 at a school concert. The next time was 1946 when Graeme Bell's Australian Jazz Band was playing at The New Theatre on Friday lunchtimes. As the admission was free he used to listen to them whilst eating his sandwiches. He didn't understand it at first but by listening separately to the various instruments and then putting them together to better understand what was going on. The next step was "Why doesn't the trombone do this at a certain point and why doesn't the drummer do that, etc?" The inevitable result was to join the Malvern Municiple Brass Band (lessons were 1 shilling in old money on Sunday mornings) in order to learn to play the trombone. By 1948 he was playing with a jazz band and shortly after, leading it. The first band became Max Collie's Jazz Bandits then later, following some changes, Max Collie's Jazz Kings. In 1952 Graeme Bells band broke up and Max got 3 key players: Roger Ball, Pixie Roberts and Lou Silbereisen on trumpet, clarinet and bass respectively. The band obtained quite a bit of radio and television work as well as ballrooms, clubs and concerts, etc. This personnel remained together for about 6 years and then inevitably changed. In 1962 Max decided to bring his band to England but at the last minute the banjo and bass player pulled out. By coincidence the trombone player (Kevin Shannon) with the Melbourne New Orleans Jazz Band who were on tour in the uk was leaving to go back to Australia. So Max received a cable offering the trombone chair for him so in April 1962 Max arrived in England to tour the UK or Germany until the band broke up one year later. Max then joined the London City Stompers becoming the band leader after a year until February 1966 when he formed Max Collie's Rhythm Aces. The first line up was Eddie Edwards - Banjo, Tony Scriven - Drums, Annie Hawkins - Bass, Roy Pellett - Clarinet and Trevor Arnold - Trumpet. Many changes took place in the first few years. Ron McKay - Drums and Gentleman Jim McIntosh, Jumping Jack Gilbert all in 1968. John Healy - Bass in 1969. Phil Mason - Cornet in 1970. The first LP's were made in 1971 with this line up. John Healy went back to Australia in 1972 and Trefor 'Fingers' Williams joined in his place. Thereafter the band remained together until 1983 when Jumping Jack and Ron McKay who was very ill and stopped playing for 6-8 months and left the band. During this time from 1970 - 1983 the band with the same personnel made great progress and became very famous around the world. Jumping Jack was in the band and still had a day job with Decca Navigator so the first LP's were made with another famous clarinet man, Cy Laurie, whom Max had coaxed out of retirement. In fact Cy took his clarinet out of it's case for the first time since 1961 in Max's band office and it was covered in green mould. Cy soon cleaned it up and was back playing well in no time. That was in 1968 when Jack couldn't go to Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, etc because of his day job by 1972 Jack was full time with the band. For someone who didn't like travelling he covered hundreds of thousands of miles through numerous countries from 1968 - 1983/4. The band were up and down the UK playing in Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and regular spots in London like the Trafalgar in Kings Road, Chelsea, Flanagans in Putney - both of these twice a week - also Toby Jug and The Mitre by Blackwall Tunnel and later the Tram Shed in Woolwich. This all added up sometimes to 10 and 11 gigs a week so the band was in very good playing shape. In 1972 Sam Johnson from Texas, USA started following the band everywhere along with Martin K. Ross who finally became Manager of the band. Sam Johnson became our American Manager and led us to a 25 day tour of the USA, then a 45 day tour, then a 66 day tour and finally an 84 day tour. Leading to the band winning the World Championship of Jazz against the cream of jazz bands in the USA and Canada. A total of 44 states were travelled mostly by band wagon and most festivals and clubs were played along with many TV shows and countless radio interviews, sometimes 7 or 8 in a day. This was in 1973, 1974 and 1975. The band was then well known from coast to coast. Terrific worldwide publicity followed all this in Europe, tours of Sweden, Denmark and Norway were added to the regular itinerary. More festivals and concerts were an everyday experience. This carried on until 1983/84 when Jumping Jack Gilbert, Ron McKay and Phil Mason left. Then Max decided to revive the jazz revue in the theatres and civic halls, etc. This was the New Orleans Mardi Gras show which incorporated Ken Colyer and Cy Laurie and turned out to be one of the most successful jazz shows in British jazz history. Playing approximately 600 shows this was followed by the High Society Show which also had a successful run. Denny Ilett was the trumpet man who replaced Phil Mason. On clarinet was Paul Harrison and on drums was the excellent Pete (Tiny) Cotterill. In 1986 the 16 year old T. J. Johnson joined the band on vocal and piano and Phil Mason returned on cornet. Lord Arsenal joined the band on piano in 1989 adding his talents to the sound. Singers Marilyn Middleton Pollock and Pauline Pearce also came into the New Orleans Mardi Gras show. The band continued playing all over Europe and the UK, adding Finland and Tokyo, Japan for 1 week to their touring, more recordings were made. In 1995 Denny Ilett returned on trumpet and stayed until the present day. In 2002 Karl Hird joined the band on clarinet and in 2003 George Walker took over on banjo as David Bashford who had been playing for the previous 5 years had a heart attack and could not travel anymore. In 1999 Alan (Slim) Poston joined on Drums as Pete Cotterill could not travel anymore due to heart problems. Germany has been very good for the Rhythm Aces with a great deal of television work over the years and a minimum of 50 cities a year, concerts, clubs, festivals, etc since 1970 to the present. We have had 4 DVD's made there in 2004 and 2006 - February 21st Celebrating Max's 75th birthday and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the band in February 1966. The band has played over 3500 major jazz festivals here and all over the world, made 50 recordings many of which are now collectors items and continues to be one of the leading highlights of traditional jazz in the uk and Europe. No engagement is just another gig to Max. 100% effort goes into every gig which is why such a high standard has been maintained over the years. Max Collie can be seen in most jazz history books that cover traditional jazz (i.e. McMillan Press "New Grove Dictionary of Jazz" acknowledged world leader reference for complete information on jazz from A-Z). For discography Eurojazz Disco Max Collie Discography Gerard Bielderman Lgie 18 8032ZG Zwolle The Netherlands Phone: 0031(0)384537821 Email: gerard.bielderman@tiscali.co.uk Band Members: Jazz musicians who have played in the band excluding deputies 1966-2006 Trumpets Chez Chesterman Trevor Arnold John Keen Phil Mason Denny Ilett Ken Colyer Clarinets Roy Pellett Jumping Jack Gilbert Trevor Whiting Paul Harrison Cy Laurie Jerry Senfluk Jonny Boston Tony Pyke Steve Mellor Gabe Essien Karl Hird Banjo Jim Cox Eddy Edwards Gentlemen Jim Mcintosh Jim Wright John Cherry Chris Marney David Bashford George Walker Dickie White Bass Annie Hawkins John Healy Trefor Williams Count John McCormick Andy Laurence Drums Tony Scriven Phil Franklin Ron McKay Grant Collie Pete Cotterill Robert Cotterill Emile Martyn Alan (Slim) Poston Piano T J Johnson Lord Arsenal Vocalists Jan Sutherland T J Johnson Christine Tyrrell Claire Solomon Marilyn Middleton Pollock Pauline Pearce The only other trombonist to play regularly in the band was Jim Mcintosh, his first gigs were on trombone when Max underwent an ear operation and could not play for 2 months.	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