A masterful mix of jazz and pop combines the both of best worlds

Tryst brings together two Australian musical icons in a fertile collaboration that combines commercial appeal and jazz mastery.

Kate Ceberano and Paul Grabowsky, together in Tryst.

JAZZ

Tryst

Kate Ceberano & Paul Grabowsky

Universal/ABC Music

4 stars

Tryst, by Kate Ceberano and Paul Grabowsky.

Tryst brings together two Australian musical icons in a fertile collaboration that combines the commercial appeal of singer Kate Ceberano with the keyboard mastery of celebrated jazz musician Paul Grabowsky. Ceberano is not a complete jazz singer — she does not improvise or indulge in wordless vocals — but her considerable strengths are palpable here: a gorgeous voice, authoritative phrasing and a feel for lyrics that renders them truthful. In Make You Feel My Love, she sings “I could hold you for a million years” so tenderly that one feels she means it. It’s significant that the latter is a big hit from pop singer Adele. In a repertoire brimming with quality, Ceberano takes on some of the more esoteric songs in popular music, including Wild is the Wind (previously best known for versions by Nina Simone and David Bowie); Leon Russell’s A Song for You; Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne; the Divinyls’ I Touch Myself; Bob Dylan’s Forever Young; and others. Great versions of such songs are already in the collective memory, and only a brave vocalist would take them on in such a highly exposed setting, backed only by solo piano. Still, with nowhere to hide, Ceberano brings the project off with aplomb. Grabowsky is a tower of strength, his accompaniments incisive and sparse when required, and orchestral when passion in the music calls for a fuller sound. Blessed with the keyboard touch and melodic sensibility we associate with great jazz pianists such as Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, he provides introductions, interludes and improvisations, where he moves through the harmonic changes in masterly fashion. For the purist jazz fan, he provides the album’s chief interest. While not wishing to snap at the heels of two such distinguished artists, there is an aberration in the medley For Cilla, Ceberano’s tribute to Cilla Black. In Burt Bacharach’s This Girl’s in Love With You the key is too high for Ceberano’s voice: there are uncomfortable moments as she strains to hit the top notes. I am surprised producers (Mal Stanley and Grabowksy) did not rectify this admittedly minor oversight.

Eric Myers

Guy by Steve Earle & The Dukes.

COUNTRY

Guy

Steve Earle & The Dukes

New West Records

4 stars

Ten years after Townes, his Grammy Award-winning tribute to Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle salutes another late, great Texan singer-songwriter hero and mentor. In Guy, the San Antonio-reared musician and his reassembled band render 16 songs composed by revered country troubadour Guy Clark with a blend of respect and inventive zeal. Earle extracts every ounce of drama from The Last Gunfighter Ballad in a stripped-back acoustic guitar rendition of the wild west ode. Pedal steel confers extra poignancy on Clark’s classics LA Freeway and Dublin Blues. Earle’s more raucous vocals combined with a reworked fiddle arrangement add pathos to That Old Time Feeling. A stellar ensemble of former Clark instrumental and vocal collaborators, including Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris, gives set finale Old Friends appropriate gravitas and impetus.

Tony Hillier

Absolute Zero, by Bruce Hornsby.

ROCK/JAZZ

Absolute Zero

Bruce Hornsby

Zappo Productions

4 stars

The Way It Is isn’t the way it is any more. Thirty-three years on from the song that defined Bruce Hornsby’s career, the pianist and songwriter is still redefining music. Absolute Zero is his 13th studio album and comes with a fascinating collection of collaborators: from one of the 20th century’s great drummers in Jack DeJohnette to 21st-century standard-setters Justin Vernon of Bon Iver fame, chamber music ensemble yMusic and English folk trio the Staves. From DeJohnette’s sublime beat to open the title track, it is clear Absolute Zero is going to break new ground. Cast-Off, co-written and co-sung with Vernon, is a poignant masterpiece about rejection, while the beautiful ballad Never in This House, lifted by the vocals of the Staveley-Taylor sisters and the instrumentation of yMusic, is the one song that could have come from any chapter of Hornsby’s career yet belongs firmly in the present.

David Tanner

The Queen Who Stole the Sky, by Sarah Mary Chadwick.

ALTERNATIVE/INDIE

The Queen Who Stole the Sky

Sarah Mary Chadwick

Rice is Nice/ Heavy Machinery

4.5 stars

Just less than a year after releasing her fourth album, Sarah Mary Chadwick returns with her most accomplished work to date. Played live on the Melbourne Town Hall’s historic grand organ with no other accompaniment, The Queen Who Stole the Sky expands Chadwick’s misanthropic dirges to new-found baroque ripeness. Singing hangdog confessionals with her usual croaky frailty, the New Zealand native lets her singing arc up and outward for appropriately theatrical effect on opener Confetti. Her voice continues to crack and wobble over rich, clotted chords throughout the album, issuing depressive portraits of absent men, empty rooms and lifesaving art. Yet for all the misery Chadwick depicts, there’s a sense of comic absurdity to On the Make and a rare hit of optimism on the heartbreaking title track.

Doug Wallen

Labrinth, Sia and Diplo Present, by LSD.

ELECTRONIC

Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present …

LSD

Sony

3.5 stars

If LSD elicits a universe of psychedelic colours, sounds and wild, out-of-body experiences then it is an entirely apt title for Sia, Diplo and Labrinth’s collaboration. The squelchy bleeping noises, unpredictable tempo and pitch shifts and catchy hooks are all signature Diplo. British singer, songwriter, rapper and producer Labrinth is the glue between two solo operators with strong aesthetics and idiosyncratic sound profiles. Sia’s songs are identifiable mere seconds in, as are Diplo’s. Genius sounds like toy robots staging a revolt while Labrinth and Sia harmonise over the chaos. Audio is a sweet bonbon chock full of Diplo’s tropical house beats and Sia’s broken but battling voice. No New Friends is bouncy, fresh and full of joyful energy. “We are the kings and queens,” goes the refrain, “no new friends now.” Alas, they’ll have plenty once word of mouth spreads on this release.

Cat Woods

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Artist of the Week

Singer songwriter Alex Lahey shares the five top songs he has on high rotation.

01. Deja Vu SOAK

I’ve been a fan of SOAK for a long time and am stoked she’s back with a ripping second album. This is my favourite from it.

02. The Community of Hope PJ Harvey

A humorous commentary on the ongoing discourse about gentrification, big business and government.

03. Dylan Thomas Better Oblivion

One of the best recordings I’ve heard all year. I love the song, the playing, and I love how it’s all put together so effortlessly.

04. Not the Same Ben Folds

A new highlight from his Rockin’ the Suburbs album for me.

05. You Seemed So Happy The Japanese

There is something so unorthodox about the way this song sounds — a classic case of where the light meets the dark.