The Gold Coast City Jazz Club features many great talents. It’s easy to forget that these wonderful artists each have a story beyond the few hours they spend entertaining us. This month, Rick Best is in the spotlight.  

From guitar at nine to trumpet at 11, piano at 15 and then bass, flute and valve trombone, there’s not a lot that Rick Best has left uncovered. A widely respected musician and arranger for almost 50 years, Rick is now leading arguably the Coast’s best big band, Sweet Thunder and bringing some of the lesser-known big band music back to life. 

Can you tell us about your history in music? 

I heard Bill Evans play electric piano on ‘The Bill Evans Album’ which led me to buy a Fender-Rhodes piano and I became primarily an electric keyboard player from then on. Around 1972 in Sydney, I got to play 2^nd trombone in a training big band run by Ed Wilson and Warren Daly which gave me a taste for the big band. In the late 1970s I was part of a band called ‘Compared To What’ featuring the late Kerrie Biddell, an extraordinary singer/musician. We developed quite a following and I got the chance to explore a lot of contemporary jazz fusion music by people like Chick Corea.  From 1979 to 1982 I worked in several countries outside Australia, playing hotels and clubs and then worked in Sydney from 1983 until I moved to the Gold Coast in 2009.

What has been the highlight of your career as a musician?

Working with extraordinary musicians such as Kerrie Biddell and Graham Lyall were highlights for sure. Hearing Sweet Thunder play my compositions and arrangements is equally exciting and satisfying.

Can you tell us a little about how Sweet Thunder came to be?   

Soon after I moved to the Gold Coast I started playing piano with the Gold Coast Big Band. I was then a part of Swing Force which gave me the chance to write for a larger band. After about eight years, I wanted to pursue some different material and felt I needed to be leading my own outfit so I could explore some less well-known big band jazz. Thus Sweet Thunder was formed in February 2018 and we made our first public appearance at the Brisbane Big Band Festival in May 2018. 

What makes Sweet Thunder different? 

The great big bands had several common features that made them great; excellent players, good arrangements and good soloists. The hardest of the three factors to satisfy is the improvisational skills of the players. For me, it’s the soloists that make us stand out as well as some of the unusual material that we play.

What is your favourite song to perform?  

Some that spring to mind are Gerry Mulligan’s ‘Bweebida Bobbida’ and Ellington’s ‘Rockin’ in Rhythm’ and ‘East St Louis Toodle-oo’. I first heard them when I was quite young and I waited 50 years for the chance to play them. I still get excited when I hear the band play these.

What do you like about performing at the GCCJC? 

It’s a good atmosphere and we have the chance to play some of those tunes that no-one else plays to a receptive audience.