Born in 1942, he didn’t take up the instrument until aged 17, took the one lesson that came with the instrument, and then proceeded to teach himself. Influenced by the New Orleans style recordings of King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, he finally adopted Bunk Johnson as his major influence. Two years later, Geoff took his trumpet to England sitting in with Europe’s best, Sammy Rimington and Barry Martyns Bands. Back in Australia, aged 20, Geoff formed his own band and over the next 8 years proceeded to popularize Sydney’s Rocks area with his sparkling performances at the Orient Hotel.
On his first visit to New Orleans in 1966, Geoff sat in with a profusion of master performers, George Lewis, Jim Robinson, Alec Bigard, Sweet Emma, Punch Miller, Willie Humphrey, Louis Nelson and also played a Mother’s Day parade with the then still active Eureka Brass Band alongside Kid Sheik and Peter Bocage. Since then Geoff has spent a great part of every year touring the world spending increasingly longer periods in his beloved New Orleans. Now adopted by the old hands, Geoff has received the singular honour of being the only Australian musician to have appeared professionally at Preservation Hall, which now occurs regularly on his visits. Apart from the USA, on his annual tours overseas, he has played in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and England.
When not on tour, Geoff regroups members of his old "Olympia" band in Sydney and recreates some of the best and most authentic New Orleans sounds heard this side of Basin Street.
