SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN Quotes from Tyrone:

Lullaby of Birdland – “This is an all-time classic, performed by the quartet in full swing mode. Sarah Vaughan's version is a killer, but the main inspiration for this came from smoky singer Mel Torme.”

America – “This song was written by Vince Jones and long-time cohort Barney McCall, politically charged and from the Cuban perspective, with those rhythms underpinning the song. However I think the chorus has a more universal feel right now... "America, we needed you; America, we trusted you, America, we tried to look just like you, America, why did you do......"

Not Me, Not You – “This haunting original song was written to a poem penned by friend and poet Craig Carlton, married with some great riffs by Nicholas Stewart (george). It reflects on post-modern living, the “info overload” age, the choices we face and the helplessness we can all feel at one time or another about the state of the world..

How Insensitive – “This is one of my favourites by Brazil's brilliant Antonio Carlos Jobim... The way the melody glides down his beautiful scale while dealing with the pain of a lost love leaves a lasting impression on you . The beautiful butterfly-like playing of saxophonist Phil Noy also really helps set the tone here.” Beauty of All Things – “This is one of my favourite “self” compositions, and it’s the original version! This song reflects simply on the beauty that is inherent in everything, and the power that love has to transcend our daily dilemmas.”

Agua De Beber - “Another Brazilian classic by Antonio Carlos Jobim, a beautiful love song with an up-tempo feel and a fat percussion breakdown!”

I'll Bet You Thought I'd Never Find You – “I first heard a newer, slower version of this song (with the original vocalist Jon Hendricks) on the debut record by Japan's groove geniuses United Future Organisation in the early 90s... Mr Hendrick's vocal left me speechless, and this led me to track down the original.. This version tips a hat to both the original's fast latin feel and UFO's slow burning groove...

Junk - this is from Paul McCartney's first solo record... Apparently he made this record at home with instruments plugged straight into the back of the tape machine he ran off with from Apple Records! Anyway, this beautiful, lamenting love song has stuck with me ever since I recorded it onto a cassette many years ago!

<strolg>Black Is The Colour of My True Love's Hair.. This Celtic traditional is in honour of one of my favourite performers, Irish troubadour Christy Moore, and the beautiful, heart-string pulling melodies that are the resounding feature of Celtic music.

She Smiles – “This is another original song, also written to a poem by friend Craig Carlton and music by Nicholas Stewart (george). On first read this poem made me teary, - it has such a pleading, heartfelt tone - so I decided to put it to song, and when I heard Nick play the opening riff I knew that was it.”

Ashes to Ashes – “My all-time favourite David Bowie song. I remember as clear as day the first time I saw the film clip to this on Countdown as a young child... I really thought he was from another planet, and now I realise it's probably one of his most honest songs, dealing with his drug demons...This version features a breezy Brazilian funk feel, while mixing in some respectful nods to the sound that Bowie and producer Tony Visconti created.

Exit Music (for a film) - One of Radiohead's finest tunes, and with a deep Shakespearian overtone, as it's written for the finale of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet. This version builds from a lone piano chord into a hell-for-leather band track, with some distortion, phasing and other effects brought in to help add to the drama

I'll Bet You thought I'd Never Find You (Pacifica remix) - This “Nu Latin” remix has been built from the original band tracks with extra percussion, synthesisers, bass tones and effects mixed in. Top Japanese DJ Chikashi Nishiwake's pristine production flair shines through with an eye for both the melody and the dancefloor!

THE ALBUM PLAYERS:

Tyrone Noonan – vocals
Vocalist / keyboardist / guitarist / songwriter for No #1 charting, ARIA-award-winning Brisband george. george’s second album, Unity, debuted at No 5 in the ARIA charts earlier 2004; the first album, Polyserena debuted at No 1 in 2002 and sold over double platinum. The band won Best New Artist / Album at the 2002 ARIA Awards, performed to an estimated 1.8 billion people for the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup 2003, completed its first sold out overseas tour in November 2002; and has performed several sellout national tours and played all major festivals over many years. Tyrone also produces music for film and theatre (inc. Qld Theatre Company and La Boite Theatre), is slowly finishing his debut electronic record (T Squared), is a resident Brisbane DJ and has been a regular Palimpsest and solo performer at events such as The Brisbane Cabaret Festival and many other top venues around Qld. This is Tyrone’s debut solo project.

Anthony Romaniuk – piano
Anthony Romaniuk has been based in New York City since 2000. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he graduated in the class of Daniel Epstein. In August 2002 he was selected to participate in a masterclass with French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Luzern Festival. He is currently a member of the ensemble of Wet Ink Music and is busy as an improviser and recitalist. His jazz credits include studying and playing with Mike Nock, Dale Barlow, James Morrison and David Jones. Anthony also practices Vipassana meditation and enjoys going to see New York City Ballet.

Jamie Clark – guitar
CD releases featuring Jamie include Good Bait (1998), with the Good Bait Quartet, Recursion (1999) and Ek! (2001) with the new music group Loops, a guest appearance on Elixir featuring Katie Noonan (2003), and the Merlo Qld jazz collection (2003). Jamie has also played on releases by vocalists such as Stacey Broughton and The Brand New Sweeties, Leah Cotterell, Alison St. Ledger, Mark Sholtes, and Kate Miller- Heidke, rock and pop bands including the El Camino’s (Away, 1996), and has done arrangements, guitar and MD work for theatre including We Were Dancing (music of Noel Coward, QTC 2003), Women In Voice (QPAC 1993 to present), Bobcat Dancing (Qld Biennial 2003), and Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls (La Boite 1995, 1996). He has also appeared at various festivals including Wangaratta (2000), Woodford (1994 to present), The Brisbane Festival, Manly Jazz Festival (Sydney), The Brisbane Cabaret Festival, The Qld Biennial Festival of Music and the Adelaide Festival (with new music group Topology on a specially commissioned piece Airwaves, 2002). In his spare time Jamie likes to eat, sleep, read and lindy hop. He drives an ’85 Ford Laser.

Eugene Romainuk – double bass
Eugene Romaniuk (b. 1978) is a musician equally at home in the spheres of both jazz and classical music. As a jazz player he has played with many of Australia’s jazz greats, including Dale Barlow, Bernie McGann, Paul Grabowsky, Scott Tinkler, Simon Barker and John Rodgers. He was a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra on their recent European Tour. He is currently finishing studies at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music under Michael Morgan, the former principal bass of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York. Eugene can also be heard on the debut album of Brisbane-based trio, Elixir. Other interests of his include anything Indian.

Sam Bates – drums and percussion
Sam graduated with a bachelor of music from the Queensland Conservatorium in 1999 where he was a member of John Hoffman’s ‘Con Artists’ and can be heard on the group’s second release – ‘Bunyip’ – featuring Dale Barlow. Sam established himself as a key figure in the Brisbane scene with such groups as ‘Appian way’ and ‘Afrodizziact’ as well as performances/recordings with Guy Webster, Steve Newcomb, Elliott Dalgliesh and Scott Tinkler. Sam’s festival appearances include ‘LIVID’, ‘Woodford Folk Festival’, ‘Pinnacles’, ‘Palmer Street Jazz Festival and ‘The Brisbane festival’. In early 2002 Sam spent 3 months studying and performing in New York. On his return he toured nationally with Eugene Romaniuk and tenor saxophonist Ben Carr. Relocating to Melbourne in February 2003 Sam has performed with Julian Wilson, Jamie Oehlers, and Gill Askey and also performed on the sound track for the Hollywood film ‘One Last Time’ with Josh Abrahams and the acclaimed ‘Melbourne fringe Festival’ play ‘The Librarian’.

THE SOLOISTS:

Shenton Gregory – violin, mandolin
Shenton completed a classical violin degree from the QLD Conservatorium in 1997. In 2000 he was awarded an Arts QLD Grant to further his jazz studies in the USA with the Turtle Island String Quartet. He was awarded ‘best of the Adelaide Fringe’ for his performance and compositions in the play ‘The Secret Death of Salvador Dali’ with further seasons in Edinburgh, London, Sydney and Brisbane. He has also written strings on two albums for the Band ‘George’ and with Josh Abraham’s film score ‘One Last Ride’. His current projects include composing a musical for the 2005 QLD music festival, Violin and Mandolin in Jaleos Flamenco, Viola in Sydney based Electric String quartet ‘Fourplay’, Extreme violin in‘Shenzo’s Electric Stunt Orchestra’ and has toured with Sydney world music group Monsieur Camembert to Hong Kong, Paris, and the 04 Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland.

Phil Noy – saxophone
Phil graduated from the Qld Conservatorium with a jazz degree in 1999. During and after that time he has played lead alto with the Con Artists, Afrodizziact and the Tony Hobbs Big Band Theory, who performed the Australian premiere of Johnny Richard’s Cuban Fire Suite. While with the Con Artists he also performed and recorded with jazz greats Scott Tinkler, Dale Barlow and Jim Pugh. He has recorded on two albums by Brisbane band george and also performed with them at the 2002 ARIA Awards. He also performed with Tom Burlinson in the stage production of Frank: A Life in Song and as soloist with the Qld Youth Orchestra in The Book Of Job. Since relocating to Melbourne, Phil has become a well-respected player on the jazz scene.

Cam Goold – percussion
Since moving to Melbourne from Brisvegas several years ago, Cam Goold has established a strong reputation as a top-notch musician, music programmer, engineer and producer. His main musical project is pop/rock/techno/hiphop/reggae hybrid outfit Propaganda Klann, who have released several successful and politically confronting EPs and are gearing up for their debut album release. He has produced several successful and highly acclaimed albums from his Slamm Cells studio, and is co-ordinator of indiginet multimedia services, a key player in the development of the global Indigenous Internet and Multimedia movement.