ERROL BUDDLE, 89, February 22, in Australia. Continuously prominent in the Australian Jazz scene since the 1940s, his first instruments were banjo and mandolin, though he went on to play many others including 14 different reeds.
After establishing himself in Sydney and Melbourne, Buddle spent the mid-fifties in Windsor, Ontario, playing bassoon in an orchestra while collaborating with jazz combos in Detroit. He founded The Australian Jazz Quartet, which toured North America for six years before a triumphant return to Australia in 1958. During the decades that followed he became the go-to man in Australian jazz, and his groups backed many prominent artists as they toured the area. He did studio work for documentaries and movies, and TV work for all of the major Australian stations, logging thousands of appearances. He worked extensively as a session musician and his discography runs to over 100 titles.
