SILKY HURLEY
I have an album in my collection by a singer called Joyce Hurley. I bought it some time in the 80s thinking it was soul but it was jazz. Not played it much but looking at the back of the sleeve I see that it was released in Australia in 1978. I bought my copy in the UK so it must have been shipped over here at some point. I was wondering if you had any more information on it as well as one of your valuations.
Lionel Tarrant via email
Joyce Hurley was born in Detroit and studied piano performance and music theory at South Carolina University. She won a postgraduate Rotary International Fellowship to conduct postgraduate studies at the University of Sydney’s New South Wales Conservatorium. While there she became, I imagine, active on the local jazz music scene. One of the leading lights on this scene was the German-born impresario, Horst Liepolt, who had arrived in Australia in the 50s. Liepolt worked hard to establish and support the scene in both Sydney and Melbourne. One of his many activities was not only putting on bands at The Basement club in Sydney but also setting up the 44 Jazz Club. This became his springboard to establish 44 Records which, in the mid-70s, began to record and release records by the leading lights of the Australian jazz scene. There were not only 7” singles by singers including Nancy Stuart but also albums by the Brian Brown Quintet, the Charlie Monroe Quartet, The Ted Vining Trio and The Galapagos Duck.
Hurley must have come to his attention as she was put into the
Earth Media Studio in Sydney to record an album with the David Martin Group. There were two sessions held on 13 November 1977 and 21 January 1978. The album, Joyce (44 Records 6357718, Aus), was released later in 1978. Tracks such as Left Alone and How Are You Dreaming mined a rich seam of jazz balladry. The album also included a great cover of Herbie Hancock’s fusion classic Maiden Voyage. 44 had national distribution across Australia though Phonogram and sales were reasonable. As time passed, like most of the 44 Catalogue of 30 or so releases, Joyce became sought-after worldwide. A Mint original is worth in the region of £400. Thankfully, it was reissued on CD in Japan in 2012 (Think! THCD 192, £20) and on LP by Portugal’s Mad About Records in 2022 (MAR 065, £30).