Stewie Speer - Move To Sydney

Move To Sydney

Speer then moved to Sydney and became a regular at local jazz haunts like Quo Vadis in Martin Place, Chequers and Sammy Lee's legendary Latin Quarter, where Jimmy Sloggett's band (which included Bernie McGann, Bob Bertles and Graham Morgan) was introducing Sydney club-goers to the latest sounds of soul music and the revolutionary Motown beat. It was during this period that Speer succeeded New Zealand actor–drummer Bruno Lawrence as the drummer in the Latin Quarter's resident band, after Bruno (who was soon to join The Meteors) fell ill with hepatitis.

In the mid-Sixties, Speer was an integral part of the fertile scene that centred on the famous El Rocco Jazz Lounge in Kings Cross, playing with groups that included by John Sangster, Judy Bailey, pianist Col Nolan, clarinettist Don Burrows, Warren Daly and others. Founded by Arthur James in 1957, and developed by musicians including Sydney drummer John Pochee from 1957–59, the converted plumber's shop at the top of William Street became the centre of modern jazz in Sydney in the 1960s.