Album Notes

Synopsis of book: "Fine Tunes" by Mark Whitty
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The idea for this book came after "Under The Influence" jazz CD was released. The tunes were a tribute to Melbourne jazz musicians who were friends and mentors to Mark in the 1960s.
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Ch(1) Freddy Thomas was always Mark's idol as a first chair class trumpet man who was very humble and enjoyed having good sidemen playing with him. Mark would go to dances just to hear him. He was director of music on channel 9 TV show, "In Melbourne Tonight". He also became a good friend to Mark and his sons in the 1980s.

Ch(2) Tommy Davidson was a dear friend in the 1960's and moved to Narooma in the 1980's. He formed a jazz trio with Mark, who learnt a lot from him about the music business.

Ch(3) Harry Price was a friend of Des Edwards, Mark's trumpet hero. Mark admired Harry from the distance and met him at Des' place in South Melbourne. He likes his song.

Ch(4) Denis Farrington AO is an institution in Melbourne. Mark's friend since the sixties. He gave him lots of advice and gigs, he also gave lots of help to Mark's son Patrick.

Ch(5) Les Cooper (piano) was a good friend to Mark and gave him lots of "Drum" on the music game. He was a source of encouragement in many ways. A real aussie gentleman.

Ch(6) Freddy Harrison was a regular patron of jazz venues. He was a character you would want to stay on the right side of and whom many held in fear. Most joints were rather seedy as was the case in those days. Despite that the music was always first class and Freddy loved it. A chilling account is told of an encounter Des Edwards had with him one dark night at the rear of a speakeasy.

Ch(7) Des edwards was Mark's best friend. He was a genius on the trumpet. His song is, "Midnight On Port Melbourne Pier".
On the CD Rom label are photos of Des and the ship.
The link between the two was a huge inspiration to Mark. In fact the genisis of this whole project. Read all about it.

Ch(8) Tortoise and Johnny Icecream were another institution in Melbourne jazz. Tortoise was a jazz piano man and Mark's
"Perfessor". Johnny was a huge man who played jazz guitar.

Ch(9) Freddy Gulliford was piano player in the Tivoli, The Lido, then Tikki and John's. Mark always admired this genius from afar. They finally met and played together in 2005.

Ch(10) Frank Gow played piano in the Frank Johnson dixieland
jazz band. Frank was a jolly man full of laughs.

Ch(11) Bob Dunne was a brass band man who helped Mark a lot in the 1960s. His song is "Sidesaddle Cello". He was a good friend and musical mentor. A fun guy too.

Ch(12) Benny Featherstone, a jazz legend from the twenties,
impressed Mark with his piano playing and drumming. Mark was
honoured to play with him on two occasions.

Ch(13) "Gigs To Remember" covers Mark's fifty years career of playing jazz with these guys, and many like them. His sons Patrick and Richard played with him as "Doctor Jazz and Sons" and showed great musical genius. Mark had to work hard to keep up with his sons' ability. He owes heaps to blokes like Freddy Thomas, who liked the boys and was impressed by them. This chapter relates many amusing anecdotes of his music experiences over the years since 1956..