At a time when job security is dwindling and a growing number of the nation’s workforce is underemployed or looking for work, you have to envy the job security afforded to the Unity Hall Jazz Band – they’ve had the same gig for 45 years.
As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, the veteran jazz group first began performing at Balmain’s Unity Hall Hotel in 1972, appearing weekly on the ground floor of the beloved pub and eventually turning the spots into the world’s longest residency.
The only band that could even rival the Unity Hall Jazz Band’s incredible feat is Japan’s New Orleans Rascals, who’ve been playing the same Osaka venue for the past 35 years, but bandleader Gary Walford and his crew hold the record for now.
What’s more, Walford plans on stretching the historic residency beyond the 50-year mark. “I’ll probably die under the piano with a schooner in my hand,” he told Fairfax.
Since none of the band members remember just what month their residency began, their latest milestone anniversary will be celebrated throughout the year, as the members reflect on some 4,000 performances and lots of memories.
“We’ve been overseas plenty of times with the band and we know a lot of guys in Japan and England and Europe and none of them have ever heard of a 40-year thing in the one place,” Walford told Fairfax when the band celebrated 40 years. “It’s not just famous in Sydney.”
“We get a lot of young people come in here – they love it,” Walford added. “We’ve got a group of young musicians who are falling into our style of music. I use a couple of them regularly because I want to teach them the old, traditional school of jazz.”
Reminiscing about the past, Walford cites the time Harry Connick Jr and his band members came in to watch his group play as a particular highlight. If you want to see the Unity Hall Jazz Band do their thing for yourself, there’s only one place to see them.
(Photo: David Pike / Fairfax)
