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Tom Baker

Born in California's San Joaquin Valley, Tom was a 1969 graduate of Escalon High School, and continued his education at Modesto Junior College and the University of the Pacific. He played several instruments, starting with the piano in childhood and switching to the trumpet at Escalon High, also playing tuba in college. He was in the High School marching band and could still demonstrate the steps and instrument moves many years later to Australian musicians. The Baker family moved to Australia when Tom was 19, and he decided to stay in Sydney when they moved back again to the Modesto area. As he'd already played music to a high standard in college it was natural that he'd start to work here as a musician.

In the early '70s he worked in various club bands backing artistes, and began visiting jazz gigs and sitting in around town. He played with Dave Banham's Northside Jazzmen then joined the Abbey Jazz Band in Sydney on trumpet, also playing trumpet with the Ray Price Qintet (that's the way Mr Price spelled it) - a band which toured Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea preaching the jazz gospel by playing school concerts in addition to regular jazz gigs and balls. At the same time, Tom was a member of Nick Boston's Colonial Jazz Band, in which he played tuba - making two recordings with that fine band.

In 1975 he formed his first band: the widely acclaimed Tom Baker's San Francisco Jazz Band, which made its official debut in December that year at the 30th Australian Jazz Convention in Balmain, Sydney - which included a triumphant appearance at the Convention's public concert in the Sydney Opera House. That group was said by many at the time to be one of the very best jazz bands ever to emerge in Australia, and possibly one of the greatest West Coast style jazz bands anywhere in the world. It was also the first Australian jazz band to be invited (in 1977) to the prestigious Sacramento Jubilee - the biggest jazz festival in the world.

In 1979 Tom returned to live and play in the US for a short time and handed leadership of the SFJB to Paul Furniss. It became a smaller 5 piece group and still enjoys a well-deserved popularity in Australia. Returning to Sydney in 1981, Tom formed 'Groove City' which was his first professional flirtation with saxophone and bop. This band supported Australian tours by Oscar Peterson and Anita O'Day. At about this time Tom was also a member of the Morrison Brother's Big Bad Band playing baritone saxophone.

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