When Valda Marshall’s jazz band started playing at the Hero of Waterloo in The Rocks in 1977, she was in her 50s and thought she was only going to play for a couple of days.
Forty-five years on, her original bandmates have died and the pub has changed hands, but she still plays alongside a rotating crew of musicians at one of Sydney’s most storied watering holes every Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
Valda Marshall (on sax) at her 95th birthday party at Hero of WaterlooCredit:Edwina Pickles
“I never know who’s coming in,” she said. “I just like playing with a band, they’re a big help … it’s good for me, I think.”
On a blustery Sunday afternoon at The Rocks, friends and strangers alike sought shelter in the cosy confines of the Hero of Waterloo to celebrate the 95th birthday of a woman every bit as iconic as the pub’s historic sandstone walls and secret tunnel running from the cellar to the harbour.
Only brief stints away for a hip replacement, a stroke and the COVID-19 lockdowns have prevented Marshall from performing in her regular slot every weekend.
“Her friend is her music … and the music is the centre of this pub.”
Kazuko Nelson, the pub’s licensee, said she was thrilled to celebrate the milestone after the interruptions caused by the pandemic.
“This year we’re able to open the door to walk-ins, so our regular customers and jazz lovers can come,” she said. “She’s so popular, everybody loves her, she’s just a really easygoing personality.”
Nelson’s late husband Ivan inherited Marshall and her band when he took over the pub’s licence in 1988. When he died in 2013, he left his wife with simple instructions.
“He said, ‘look after Valda. She’s part of the history of this pub’,” Kazuko said. “She’s part of the history of Sydney as well, and also strongly part of our little family.”
Valda Marshall with Kazuko Nelson, the Hero of Waterloo licensee, at her 95th birthday party.Credit:Edwina Pickles
For Marshall, who turns 95 on Monday, music is a social affair. She doesn’t rehearse, and rarely played during isolation and lockdowns: “There’s nobody with you, what’s the point? You’re just on your own, that’s no fun.”
Marshall grew up in a musical family in Sydney’s inner and eastern suburbs, first in Zetland and then in Kingsford, where she still lives. Her mother played piano, and she started playing music from about 5 years old, although she didn’t pick up a saxophone until she was in her 50s. A natural musician, she taught herself.
“I started on the trumpet but got osteoarthritis in my back, so I couldn’t hold it up,” she said. “I wanted to keep up the music, so I thought, ‘blow it, I’ll get a saxophone’.
“I can’t read the music, I just know what the sounds are.”
Valda Marshall’ on saxophone at her 95th birthday party at the Hero of Waterloo.Credit:Edwina Pickles
Nelson said that, with friends, bandmates and two husbands long since passed, the one constant in her life had been music.
“Her friend is her music … and the music is the centre of this pub,” she said. “Everybody comes from the countryside, from far away just to come listen to the jazz band.”
Lord Mayor Clover Moore sent Marshall a letter to mark her 95th birthday, commending her for her “lasting contribution to the cultural life of our city”.
‘I can’t read the music, I just know what the sounds are.’
Founded in 1843, the Hero of Waterloo will celebrate its 180th year next year, and Marshall has no plans to retire the saxophone anytime soon.
“I feel pretty good for 95,” she said. What’s her secret?
“Keep breathing.”
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