THE DOROTHY-JANE GOSPER BAND
Paulo says "Playing the blues is my first love. Blues is pretty broad when you get down to it - slow blues, jump blues, jazz blues, swing blues, electric blues, acoustic blues, chicago blues... I'm not allergic to other genres, I just really love the blues in all its forms."
Paulo first took up the electric bass in 1966 at the suggestion of a high school classmate who needed a bass player for his band. Paulo's first bass was a homemade instrument which he subsequently traded-in on some "real" gear.
In the late 1960's Paulo began gigging around Melbourne with rock outfit Muffpot (with Ron Teuma, Danny Pasto and Sam Righi).
Some of the bands Paulo worked with in the 1970's included Mr Muse (pop 'n' roll with Remy Aromain, Phil Bowen and Trevor Missellbrook), Atlas (Latin-rock with John Annas, Sam Caserta and Joe Maker), Gypsy (prog-rock with John Annas, Tony Lee, Joe Maker, David Graham and John Brown) and Thin Ice (funk 'n' roll with Peter Velasco, Glen Bayliss, Shane Dorrington, Sam Caserta, Sig Anderson, John Santos, Tim Fettes, Ross Guenther and John McCulloch), amongst others. He also worked with Jeff St John, Wendy Saddington and Angry Anderson.
In 1978 Paulo moved from Melbourne, Victoria to Candelo, New South Wales and began playing with such talents as Tony Haid and Dave Hannagan (Haid, Hannagan & Leeder), Pol O'Shea, Mike Crowe, Donny Ryan, Louise Harnett, Dennis Richards and others, before returning to Melbourne. After a short stint with the Sinclair Brothers band Paulo semi-retired from playing to concentrate on a career in the computer industry.
In 1990, Paulo returned to the NSW Far South Coast.
The "itch he couldn't scratch" persisted through the ensuing years until Paulo returned to "active duty" in 1996. He then began working with the finest of the NSW Far South Coast music fraternity, including the Sleepwalkers (rhythm 'n' groove with Jim Lay, Al Leake and Kerrin Dow), Pace (power blues-rock with Nick Lister and Rod Motbey), Leeder & The Pack (rhythm 'n' groove with various artists), The Tomcats (rhythm 'n' groove with Ken Vatcher, Kym Beare and Pete Wild), Jay McMahon, Heath Cullen, Cathy Middleton, Heather Black, Damon Davies, Deb Weeden, Terry Heffernan, Mike Crowe, Pol O'Shea, Franz Peters, Lee Grando, Bob Porter and others.
In 2006, Paulo moved to Canberra and began forging connections within the ACT blues scene. He regularly performs with the Chris Harland Blues Band (with Chris Harland and Mitch Preston), the Hot Flush Blues Band (blues 'n' groove with DeeJay Gosper, Michael-John Stratford and Baz Cooper). Paulo also performs occasionally with other notable musicians such as Illya Szwec, Adam Hole, Marji Curran, Dave Blanken, Rick Millband, Chris Tominich, Christo Carlsen, John Stockdill, Jonno Zilber, Wayne Ryder and Kevin Mather.
Paulo, whose playing is exemplified as "powerful, driving and funky", intends to continue playing "forever"!
BAZ COOPER (PIANO, HAMMOND, ACCORDION)
Baz started out in the South of England on piano-accordion, winning numerous music competitions and festivals, before forming a Blues/Zydeco band. Moving on to keyboards he played with numerous amateur groups before joining professional R&B bands.
Baz moved to London to join the seminal R&B band ‘The Downliners Sect’, recording and touring with them.
He then took up an offer to move to Rome to join the Cyan Three, who were the band with Italian chart topping pop/rock singer, Patti Pravo.
Later moving back to the UK, Baz joined ‘The Christine Lee Set’ (Christine being Europe’s top female drummer) playing soul and R&B music.
Next, Baz joined the ‘Junior Johnson Trio’, later to become ‘Sanctum’, to work in the night club on board a ship for two round the World cruises. Sanctum then played UK gigs, before joining up with American singer Pashi Vakiva, to play in the UK and Europe and then returning to play again on board ship. At the end of this stint Baz left the ship in Melbourne to take up residence in Australia.
After playing with various bands in Australia, as well as working in the music industry, Baz joined a folk oriented band, ‘Patchwork’, which in turn lead to the formation of ‘The Feral Brothers’ duo, playing World and Gypsy music on accordion, with fiddler Sandy Gibbney.
Next came the formation of ‘Allez-Gator’, playing Cajun and Zydeco music, for some years. With the demise of Allez-Gator, Baz gradually moved back to focussing more on Blues, R&B, originals and light Jazz.
Mikey started drumming professionally at age 14. He is a classy melodic drummer, with well crafted grooves and a love of Latin and Shuffle rhythms.
In the good old days he played in Canberra and along the NSW South Coast playing 50/50 gigs in the clubs.
He has played with Johnny Jessop (Show piano duo), Elma Lette (Hammond organ duo), Bob Champion Trio (Top 40 Hits of the 80s), Cobra (Canberra's top Rock band), the Ace Tones (Premier Club band of NSW South Coast in the 70s and 80s) and Blue Velvet (Canberra corporate functions cover band).
Mikey has been Dorothy-Jane's drummer for the past 14 years.
As a PA technician, Mikey has provided top quality sound for 100s of acts, including international and national touring acts and small festivals. His philosophy is to provide clear, layered sound at an appropriate volume.
Mikey also lugs most of the gear and is doing some bookings for Dorothy-Jane.
DOROTHY-JANE'S BIO
Top Australian guitarists, Illya Swyec and Dave Blanken, join the group for electric gigs when possible.
Highly regarded Folk musicians, Damien Neil (guitar, vocal), Sandy Gibbney (fiddle, mandolin) and Dave O'Neill are called on for acoustic shows.
