The Australian Jazz Museum has acquired the iconic blue and yellow clarinet once played by the late jazz musician Nick Polites OAM. The instrument was donated to the museum by Angela Lillis, Nick Polites’ niece.
By the time Nick Polites was 21, he had established himself as a respected clarinetist in Melbourne’s jazz scene. In 1951, he joined Frank Johnson’s Fabulous Dixielanders, a prominent jazz band in Melbourne. A decade later, Polites reached a career milestone by performing at Preservation Hall in the New Orleans French Quarter.
The Australian Jazz Museum houses an extensive collection of Polites’ recordings and memorabilia spanning his entire career.
