Member Bios

Cameron Smith has been working as a performer and instrumental music teacher since graduating from USQ in 2002 where he majored in Trumpet performance. Growing up playing in a wide variety of community ensembles led to a love of collaborating and performing different styles of music from jazz combos to symphony orchestras and orchestras for musicals. Cameron’s’ 1st love however is the music of New Orleans and he regularly performs and writes music in the trad jazz and second line styles. As a performer Cameron has toured nationally and internationally playing festivals as diverse as the Woodford Folk Festival, Edinburgh Fringe and Wuxi festival in China. Other tour highlights include Black Mountain Unplugged in Far North Qld and the UB Jazz club in Ulaan Bataar Mongolia.

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Lachlan Smith grew up in Toowoomba playing drums in every brass band, orchestra and big band the city had to offer. After brief stints in Canberra and Brisbane where he played with National brass band champions Brisbane Excelsior, Lachlan found himself in Cairns where he had the opportunity to cut his teeth in several touring bands, playing music festivals in the UK, China and Thailand. Lachlan presently lives in Gold Coast, Queensland where he works as Assistant Fitout Manager at SLRV Expedition Vehicles and performs with The Magnificence

Paul Edwards has been playing and performing tenor saxophone for more than 30 years. After studying classical saxophone at the University of Southern Queensland he fell in love with jazz and has since had the pleasure of sharing the stage with some of Australia’s greatest Jazz musicians. Paul is the Director of Music for Jazz Education for Darling Downs Youth Soc. Inc. where he donates his time to teach enthusiastic young students about jazz improvisation and performance. He is also the Director of Music Performance at Concordia Lutheran College in Toowoomba where he teaches saxophone and clarinet, conductors the Big Band, Concert Band and Junior Concert band. A major part of his role is to coordinate authentic performance opportunities for the more than 250 students in the music program. Maintaining a vibrant and diverse personal performance schedule is difficult but important to the validity of his role as an educator.

Based around the green hills of Northern NSW, Joe O’Keeffe plays fingerstyle guitar and banjo in a variety of styles. From solo live looping acoustic palm wine infusions to leading his Afrobeat Ethio jazz ensemble Timbuktu. With The Magnificence he has been given license to play banjo loud and fast. Joe is currently Secondary Music/Live Productions teacher and band conductor at Kadina High School.

A versatile bassist and flautist, Julian Smith has travelled the length of Australia’s eastern seaboard (from Cooktown to Hobart) with several bands, including regular appearances at Woodford Folk Festival, Byron Bay Bluesfest and a host of other regional festivals, jazz clubs, local halls, weddings, pubs and backyards. He studied theatre at university and performed both on stage and in the street, enjoying zany, life-affirming spectacle with a strong musical element. His first ‘job’ was as musical director (as well as general clown, juggler and dogsbody) of a travelling circus which toured most of Australia’s east coast in a double-decker bus. Julian has lived abroad and currently lives in the hills near Byron Bay. He works regularly with over a dozen bands, has played on numerous recordings and regularly subs in the area for several bands.