JIM'S PHOTO GALLERY

Here are some photos of Jim in action as well as new photos of his band TALIZMAN. Right from the start, Jim has always strived for individuality in his career and twenty years ago fell in love with the Gibson ES335 style guitars. As a big man he wanted a guitar that suited his physical stature and playing style and he found it in the slimline double cutaway guitar as used by Alvin Lee, B.B. King and Cream-era Eric Clapton. At first he used cheap copies made in the Orient and by 1997, at the start of his full-time professional career he was playing a couple of Epiphone Sheratons. His collection soon grew as he began to wear the frets out on the older ones. Jim plays so hard and his fingers are so strong from a lifetime of weightlifting that he literally grinds the frets down to the wood. He won't get a year out of a guitar if he uses it as his only stage instrument so he takes a couple along to every gig and alternates them to share the wear. In 2002 he bought a Gibson ES335 but the guitar proved too expensive to gig at most of the venues at which he played. He does use it for recording purposes. Later in 2002 he bought an Epiphone Jorma Kaukonen Signature Riviera guitar which is all but identical to his ES335 except for the Bigsby vibrato unit. As soon as he got to grips with this model Jim realised he had found his ultimate guitar. He gradually accumlated additional signature models and a couple of standard Epiphone Rivieras which he customised to similar specifications. The Epiphone ES335 guitars also feature in Jim's collection and stage gear. Jim uses Gibson Strings exclusively on all his guitars. He is becoming well known for his trade mark red guitars which he keeps in as good a condition as he can, given that they are played very hard and very often. Jim's guitar tech and long-time friend Simon Faux has managed to obtain high quality fretwire so it is likely Jim will hang onto the guitars he now has and get Simon to re-fret them as they wear out. Quite a few of his guitars are suffering worn frets at the moment and on a musician's income Jim might take some time getting them done! Far from being a trophy hunting collector, Jim plays and/or has played all his guitars, some more regularly than others, of course. The only expensive guitars he owns are a couple of Gibsons but Jim thinks the world of each one regardless of purchase price. His three 2001 model Epiphone ES335s and two of his Jorma Kaukonen signiature guitars see the most use. Jim doesn't drink, smoke, use narcotics, or gamble. His only vice is guitar collecting!

The magazine picture is from the June 2004 Issue of Live to Ride biker magazine and shows Jim playing at the Rebels' Bike and Tattoo Show over the Australia Day weekend 2004 in Gympie. That shot appears twice in the magazine, on the contents page and on page 66.

The dark photo was taken at a fundraiser Jim played in April 2005. He was the opening act on a bill that included Biker bands Ragged Edge, featuring Duffy by the way, and The Fat Pigs. He really enjoyed catcing up with his old friends and being given the opportunity to help raise money to help two seriously ill boys.

The black and white photos were taken at the legendary Jazz & Blues Bar in Brisbane in 2001 on the very first night Jim and Leon played together. That's Steve Clark on Drums. He introduced Leon to Jim and they called the band Trinity. The guitar in the picture is one of Jim's Epiphone Sheratons that he no longer owns.

The next photo was taken in 1985 at the Queensland Powerlifting Championships and shows Jim squatting 270 kilos. Jim never used any performance enhancing drugs of any kind in his long career and was the strongest 'clean' lifter in Queensland for many years. In the World Drug Free Powerlifting Association he was ranked in the top ten in the World in his bodyweight division in the mid to late 1980s. He still works out regularly to stay in shape.

Next come photos of TALIZMAN taken at a big Southern Cross poker run 'after party' out at Esk on June 11th. It was bitterly cold but TALIZMAN cooked that night with Duffy debuting with the band. A VCD of the performance was shot for use in a documentary and TALIZMAN were given a complimentary promotional package. There are links to a couple of the live videos on both Jim's and TALIZMAN'S MySpace sites. Links to those sites are on the mainpage of this site as well as on the Links page.
TaLIZMAN have been gigging regularly for two years now and have been very well received, in fact they have a 100% success rate as far as return bookings are concerned. With a reportiore of over 120 songs with more added every week, TALIZMAN are an exceptionally versatile band with many decades of combined live playing experience. Trish gigged continuously throughout the difficult 1980s in a variety of bands and Leon has played bass behind a veritable who's who of top Australian talent including Smokey Dawson and John Farnham. Duffy has been in bands that played continuously for over twenty-five years. Jim has done over 800 solo gigs in nine years as well as hundreds of band engagements since 1973 and believes this to be his best band yet! As well as delivering scorching Blues/Rock, TALIZMAN have another string to their bow: All four members are good enough singers to front the band! Trish is the most versatile drummer with whom Jim has ever worked. Not only is her drumming rock solid, but she sings songs by Pat Benetar, The Eurythmics, The Divinyls and other female acts, adding another dimension to the band's capabilities. Leon has a vocal range to die for, ranging from Little River Band-style falsetto to bass baritone fatness. Although he prefers to sing back-up Leon does take the lead on some of the band's songs. His ability to sing and play complex bass patterns simultaneously has made him Jim's first and only choice when it came to picking a bassist. Duffy's extensive live experience, rock solid rhythm playing and powerful stage presence make him an asset to any band.

'Thanks so much for visiting my site. I hope you enjoyed the time you spent here. If you come to any of my gigs please come and introduce yourself...Oh, and Keep on Rockin'' ...Big Jim.

Please visit again soon. This site is regularly maintained and updated. Don't forget to visit Jim's MySpace site via the link on the mainpage.