By NOEL MURPHY
AUSSIE legend Joe Camilleri is headed Geelong’s way next week, armed with a kitbag of hits and tunes to set bodies rocking and tug at two generations of musical memories.
ARIA-winning Camilleri, who has headed such icons as Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, The Black Sorrows and The Revelators, is a national institution whose line-ups have consistently included some of the country’s finest musicians.
Cutting across multiple genres – rock, reggae, R&B, power pop, ska and jazz – Camilleri has written, performed, recorded, produced with everyone from Wilbur Wilde and Vika and Linda Bull through Peter Luscombe, Stephen Handley and Nick Smith to James Black and Ross Hannaford.
The hits have come steadily down the years, ingraining themselves in the Aussie musical psyche. Songs like So Young, Hit and Run, Shape I’m In, Hold On To Me, Harley and Rose, Chained to the Wheel, Never Let Me Go are solid going for a self-taught singer-songwriter from Melbourne’s tough western suburbs.
One of Australia’s most committed and successful musicians, Camilleri loves and lives his music.
He produced The Black Sorrows’ records as well as albums for Tiddas, Overnight Jones, Renee Geyer and many more.
He also owns and runs one of Melbourne’s best recording studios, Woodstock Studio.
Together with Andrew Walker, he formed the Jazzhead label, now considered the hottest contemporary jazz label in Australia.
Allowing young contemporary musicians to release their work, Jazzhead has been instrumental in expanding the jazz scene in Australia and collected an ARIA Award for best jazz release in 1998 with Ian Chaplin and Scott Tinkler’s The Future In Today.
The Black Sorrows’ latest album, Certified Blue, is considered to contain some of the best songs Camilleri has penned with long-time writing partner Nick Smith.
The album’s soul, rock, gospel and country tracks encapsulate everything Camilleri has played over a career that’s now getting on to 50 years.
Walker said the band was looking forward to returning to Geelong.
“We haven’t done Geelong for a while,” he told the Independent.
“The Wool Exchange show will be great. There’ll be plenty of tracks off the new album, which are fantastic.
“The five-piece line-up will have John McAll on keys, Mark Gray on bass, Angus Burchall on drums and Claude Carranza on guitar, all with Joe.
“It’s an all-singing, all-dancing, all-star revenue with everyone up front and singing. They’ve been working really hard with loads of gigs and they’re really road-seasoned.
“You’ll see the benefit on stage, the band’s so tight. They all know everything inside out.
“Joe just says a song and bang they’re into it. It’s fantastic.”
Joe Camilleri and The Black Sorrows perform at The Wool Exchange on 1 November.
