Dixieland Band

The South Australia Police Dixie Band was originally formed in 1974 when the Band of the South Australia Police changed from a Brass Band to a Concert (Military) Band. In these early days the group consisted, at various times, of such local legends as: Ernie Alderslade on Trombone (Bandmaster at that time) Ian (Splash) Drinkwater on Clarinet and Sax and Gordon Coulson on Trombone.

In 1978, Derek Dalton joined the Police Band and because of his background in Dixieland music assumed the leadership of this group. Initially, he used mostly written arrangements to assist younger players to develop the necessary skills to play this style of music. In 1992 the group changed to a more free style of Dixieland where musicians tend to play without arrangements and perform more “from the heart”. This newer style incorporates the use of comedy and more visual antics to boost the entertainment value of this very popular group.

As their popularity increased so did the requests from their many fans to record a CD. These requests were fulfilled by the release of a CD entitled “Band on the Beat plays Dixieland. Volume 1” and it instantly became a big hit with its many admirers - to the point that it has outsold all the other Police Band CD’s to date.

In 2002 the Band hit the studio for the second time and produced a disk titled "A Few More Bars", which as expected is selling extremely well and is an essential edition to anyone's library

The current personnel is as follows:

Robert Booth on Trumpet and Vocals.

Todd Martin on Trumpet and Vocals.

Lance Perryman on Clarinet.

Neil Percy on Trombone

Craig Menzel on String Bass

Ross Nicholson on Banjo.

Scott Howard on Drums and Washboard.

CD's recorded by this ensemble

Audio Track Playing "When the Saints"

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this page last updated Monday February 19, 2007