Australians Errol Buddle (bassoon and tenor saxophone), Bryce Rohde (piano), and Jack Brokensha (vibraphone and percussion) arrived in Windsor, Canada during 1952–1953.
This led to Brokensha appearing across the border in Detroit on a local WXYZ-TV show and for him to obtain employment visas enabling the three musicians to play in the US.
1929, d. 2000, Youngstown, OH) at recording sessions in Detroit, and together the four musicians began playing as a quartet on weekly TV shows and performances at the Kleins Jazz Club.
Since Buddle had been playing bassoon regularly with the Windsor Symphony, Healey and Rohde quickly decided to make arrangements for the flute-bassoon-vibes combination, giving the group a distinctive sound.
Soon they began playing at clubs like The Hickory House, Birdland (jazz club),[4] Basin Street, and the Roundtable in New York; the Blue Note, Modern Jazz Room, and Robert's Show Room in Chicago; Storyville in Boston; Jazz City in Los Angeles; Macumba in San Francisco; Sonny's Lounge in Denver; Peacock Alley in St. Louis; Rouge Lounge in Detroit; Peps and Blue Note in Philadelphia; Midway Lounge in Pittsburgh; Colonial in Toronto, Ball & Chain in Miami and many others.
In 1956 there was "Music For Moderns" with Count Basie, Erroll Garner, the Kai Winding Septet, the Chico Hamilton Quintet, and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.
The first album, distinguished by its cover illustrated by four side-by-side kangaroos, was a 10" LP recorded in February 1955 and featured arrangements of eight standard songs.