Jazz and art man Dave Dallwitz a renaissance experimenter with many forms over seven decades in Adelaide
Dave Dallwitz at the piano (left) in 1986, his Ern Malley Jazz Suite (1974), his Blue Flash abstract art (1969), and Dallwitz showing his versatility on trombone with his Southern Jazz Group at the first Australian jazz convention in 1946 in Melbourne.
Blue Flash image courtesy Art Gallery of South Australia
Dave Dallwitz was an Adelaide 20th Century renaissance man, renewing himself in music and art forms over seven decades.
In music, Dallwitz was a jazz pianist, band leader and composer in ragtime (with his own ensemble) and dixieland, who worked with some of Australia's more progressive musicians such as John Sangster, Bob Barnard and Len Barnard. He also studied classical music and became involved in Adelaide music theatre. In art, Dallwitz’s switch to abstract in the 1960s was bold and brave coda on years of experimenting.
David Friedrich Dallwitz was born at Freeling in 1914, the son of clerk Joseph Ernst and Clara Magdalena Dallwitz. Dallwitz first studied the violin as a youth and after, his family’s move to Adelaide in 1930, began playing jazz on piano. From 1933-35, he studied at the South Australian School of Art and North Adelaide School of Fine Art. He met Joan Rowe, sharing a passion for art, music and dancing. They married in 1938.
In the late 1930s, Dallwitz began painting trips with other artists to Adelaide’s coast south. With Normanville Landscape, he began to explore colour and form. He also began a life of teaching, while studying art at night and keeping his interest in music, particularly jazz. His home with Joan at Seacliff became “The Jazz House” with many musical and artistic evenings. In 1940. Dallwitz was an associate member of the conservative Royal South Australian Society of Arts but was founding chairman of the breakaway modern Contemporary Art Society of South Australia in 1942.
He formed his first jazz band, the Southern Jazz Group, in 1945 and recorded for the Memphis label in Adelaide and for Parlophone, Willco and Rodeo labels in Sydney. In 1954, Dallwitz took the first of 11 overseas trips in 1954, visiting cathedrals, art museums and theatres. He also played with English jazz groups in London but this started a 17-year period of virtually abandoning jazz and turning to classical and theatre music. In 1955, he studied at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, composing symphonic and chamber music, and playing cello and bassoon in groups and orchestras as well as being involved in musical productions as director, composer, arranger and pianist in the early 1960s with Flinders Street Revue Company.
Dallwitz taught technical drawing subjects at Adelaide Technical High School from around 1954 to 1964, then lectured, notably in art history, at the school of art until 1974. Dallwitz joined his artist son John in exploring abstract art with a 1966 trip to Europe. Blue Flash was the most famous of his abstract works exhibited at Sydney’s prestigious Central Street Gallery in 1969 but meeting a total lack of interest – even from the art gallery – back in Adelaide. Fifteen years later, the gallery was eager to accept his offer of Blue Flash.
During the 1960s, Dallwitz also pursued printmaking and taught jewellery making. He returned to jazz in 1970. A highlight was his big band, with added Sydney and Brisbane musicians, at the Esso Jazz Summit on Sydney's Bondi Beach in 1986. One of the most important of his many recordings was the Ern Malley Jazz Suite, having a world première in 1974 at the Art Gallery of South Australia with an exhibition of Sidney Nolan works.
After retiring from art lecturing in 1974, Dallwitz was active as a painter with exhibitions. In 1986, he was awarded the Order of Australia for services to music and in 1994 the Art Gallery of South Australia honoured him in his 80th year with a retrospective exhibition.
Dallwitz died on 2003 in Adelaide after just finishing the art work for his album The Dave Dallwitz Big Band live at Wollongong, December 1984. from the band's second appearance at the Australian Jazz Convention.