Ray Price

Australian jazz banjoist, guitarist, bassist and bandleader, born November 20, 1921 in Canterbury, Sydney, Australia. Passed away August 5, 1990, Redcliffe, Queensland.
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From at least 1947 he played intermittently with The Port Jackson Jazz Band, of which he was leader 1955-1962. Formed the short lived Dixielanders in 1952. Also played bass with orchestras of the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Defying an ultimatum from the ABC (who sponsored the SSO concerts) regarding his jazz activities, he was dismissed from the SSO amid considerable publicity in 1956. Soon after Price formed a trio for the Macquarie Hotel, which, ironically, was heard in 1959 by a guest SSO conductor, Constantin Silvestri, who gave it high praise. With changed personnel and augmented to a quartet, the group moved to the Adams Hotel's Tavern of the Seas on George Street Sydney; this residency concluded in 1966. Many famous names passed through the ranks of the band including Col Nolan, Dick Hughes and John Sangster. He formed the Dixieland Jazz band, The Ray Price Qintet in 1971 and toured through to about 1976.

Price retired in 1982, but occasionally played at reunions of the Port Jackson Jazz Band.