Biography
Paul Grabowsky is an Australian pianist and composer, whose work is well-known both at home and overseas. He has covered territory from film and televsion to jazz and beyond.
In his own words...
I was born in Lae, Papua New Guinea in 1958. My father Alistair had spent many years in New Guinea mainly during the 1930's where it seems to me he lived the life of an adventurer, working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums. He returned in 1957 with my mother Charlotte to Bulolo where he worked for New Guinea Gold Fields. Hence my appearance in such an unexpected corner of the world. I was a late arrival; my brother Michael was born to the same parents in 1942. He's also a musician, a decidedly groovy bass guitarist.
I grew up in Melbourne, Australia in Glen Waverley, on the outer eastern fringe. My interest in music began as early as 2 when I was able to recognize songs played on the radio. I began piano lessons at 5 and studied with Mack Jost, senior lecturer in piano at the Melbourne University Conservatorium from the age of 7 until my university years. He was like a second father to me and reminded me often that the secret of good piano playing is the creation of a beautiful sound. Although this may seem obvious, it is often overlooked in jazz music. Mack immersed me in the classical repertoire especially Bach, to whom he referred affectionately as 'The Master' and Beethoven. He was the first pianist in Australia to have performed The "Concord" Sonata of Charles Ives, and I remember well hearing great chunks of that incredible piece as he practised it before my lessons. I find myself returning to these composers again and again in my life as an inexhaustible reservoir of inspiration.
My love affair with jazz started at the time when most first serious love affairs start, namely at 16. My school, Wesley College, was one of the few at the time to boast a jazz ensemble and not being a sportsman it was possibly the only school activity that I could pursue which might attract the attention of the opposite sex. I couldn't play jazz to save my life but largely thanks to the encouragement of John Lee, the teacher in charge of the group, I persevered. Every night, Monday to Friday, I would listen to the ABC's radio show "Music to Midnight", which introduced me to a host of mainstream artists, such as Oscar Peterson and Errol Garner. It didn't take long before I realized that jazz was the music that I was destined to play. I think it was the marriage of rhythm and line that swept me away. Exposure to be-bop turned my head around, and I began to transcribe various solos by Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro and Bud Powell. Bud is still my favourite jazz pianist.
As a result of my new-found sense of identity, I dropped out of university, a decision which caused some level of anxiety amongst family and teachers. I started to hang out with like-minded young musicians seeking the most unfashionable shores of jazz during the mid 1970's, among them guitarist Willy Zygier, drummer David Jones and bassist Gary Costello. Gary's mentor was bassist Murray Wall, a student of the great pianist Lennie Tristano - one of the greatest improvisers in the history of the music and a hard line advocate for purity of concept and uncompromising adherence to principles of freedom in music. I fell under the spell of Lennie's music, and still find it awe-inspiring.
I began to realize that jazz is a serious business and although fusion music was all the rage with the advent of the first synthesizers and the dominance of bands such as Weather Report and Return to Forever, I was determined to immerse myself in the tradition. My student digs in Carlton were a sea of vinyl, mainly be-bop. Most of my time was spent in jam sessions or transcribing solos from cassettes. I also spent many hilarious months during 1978-1980 working inside the fertile Melbourne comedy/cabaret scene, largely at the Flying Trapeze and Last Laugh, where began my relationships with, among many others, Steve Vizard and Robyn Archer.
In 1979 I attended a summer school at the Victorian College of the Arts led by Jamey Aebersold and David Baker. Among the faculty was the great saxophonist, Dave Liebman. I found myself in his ensemble and that was a life-changing experience. He encouraged me to follow my muse even if it meant leaving Australia for some time. In 1980 I flew to London whence after various adventures I went to Spain and then to Germany where I lived until 1985. These were my apprenticeship years, a wonderful period during which I lived and worked as a jazz musician based in Munich which at the time had a thriving scene based around a few good clubs.
I got to experience at first-hand the feeling of performing with such legends as Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Johnny Griffin, Benny Bailey and Sal Nistico. I also spent many enjoyable months on the road with my good friend Gunther Klatt, an important influence on my musical life and with Marty Cook who introduced me to the music of Ornette Coleman. Ornette has become something of a hero figure for me, not just as a musician but as a philosopher. An understanding of his music leads to a greater grasp of the role that time itself plays as a dimension in our lives particularly if it is understood that our lives are a process in a perpetual state of reinvention.
I returned to Melbourne in 1986. I had been back for a short stint over the Christmas of 1982 - 1983 during which time I joined Jeannie Lewis's group led by Australian rock legend Red Symons. Red invited me to help him on a film project which I ended up co-composing. This proved to be another key experience. I felt that film composition was another avenue to explore, one which would allow my diverse musical interests greater range. My aim upon returning was to forge out a career within the Australian film industry. Restless soul that I am, I immediately started building a band to continue my jazz activities. The first stage was the formation of my trio with Allan Browne and Gary Costello. Our first concert had been back in 1983 at the Glasshouse Theatre at RMIT, the first concert of the Melbourne Jazz Co-operative. I added saxophonist Ian Chaplin early in 1986 and vocalist Shelley Scown later the same year. The trio continued to perform as a separate unit and was often seen accompanying visiting American soloists such as Al Cohn, Herb Ellis, Ricky Ford and many others. I think that this experience of providing suitable accompaniments for mainstream soloists has taught me many things, most importantly the power of careful listening and discreet accompaniment, as well as the most basic skill in jazz, the ability to swing.
Dale Barlow, saxophonist extraordinaire, had likewise returned to Sydney from an extended overseas sojourn, and we decided to form a band together. After experimenting with various rhythm sections, we settled on the combination of Lloyd Swanton, bass and Tony Buck, drums, later to become two-thirds of The Necks, one of Australia's greatest contributions to improvised music. Our band The Wizards of Oz, recorded an album for Mercury/Polygram, and proceeded to play around Australia, and internationally. When singer Vince Jones was looking to make one of his seasonal lineup changes, he took the Wizards as a unit, with the addition of his long time associates Doug de Vries, guitar and Ray Pereira, percussion. This terrific group, later with Andew Gander replacing Tony Buck on drums, became the basis of the Groovematics, the band I led for three years on Australia's favourite TV show, Tonight Live with Steve Vizard. I signed a three album deal with Philip Mortlock at Warner Music, an opportunity rare in Australia, and one which enabled me to take a more long-range view of the music I wanted to make. I recorded in New York for the first time in 1989, with Paul Motian, Dewey Redman, Marty Cook and Ed Schuller.
These were torrid years, scoring movies such as Gillian Armstrong's "Last Days of Chez Nous", television shows like "Phoenix" and "Fast Forward", recording and touring with my sextet, marrying Margot and experiencing the birth of my daughter Isabella, all while riding the rollercoaster of live television five shows a week. It exhausts me even thinking about it. But I guess you have to seize opportunities as they arise, and this has been a principle I have adhered to, for better and worse.
My major project after the television years began with some commissions I wrote for a Munich-based jazz/contemporary music group in 1990. These pieces were based on songs of Edith Piaf, while a second group were based on songs from the 1920's, 30's and 40's derived from German UFA films. I wanted to hear these pieces played by an Australian band, and with the encouragement of friends and colleagues, I approached the artistic director of the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, the late Richard Wherrett with the idea of "Ringing the Bell Backwards", a project which combined my deep interest in 20th Century history with musical ideas I had been toying with, especially on the album "Viva Viva", my last release for Warner Music. The result was the birth of the Australian Art Orchestra in 1994, and with the assistance of a generous investment from Philip Mortlock, late of Warner Music and now with his own Origin label, our first CD was recorded.
Life after Tonight Live was at least less hectic, while certainly not less interesting. My son Guy was born in 1995. The AAO did its first tours, including performances with Steve Lacy and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, I toured Europe with James Morrison's quartet, directed the Victorian Arts Centre's Summer Music programme, and began my long-running relationship with singer Robyn Archer, and my revitalised trio recorded "When Words Fail". On Christmas Eve 1995, I received a call from a producer at the ABC who wanted to gauge my interest in fronting a television series about......... music. As a result, Access All Areas was made, a fourteen x 1 hour series shot in many locations around the world. The format was interviews, conducted by Jaslyn Hall and me, in which many different types of musicians were asked to describe their relationship to the process of making music. From John Lee Hooker's suburban living room to Karlheinz Stockhausen's studio, from Wynton Marsalis on stage in San Fransisco to the Gympie Country Music Muster, we traversed many worlds in what proved to be a memorable, and, on occasions, controversial experience.
The AAO's tour of India late in 1996 marked the beginning of our "Into the Fire" programme, developed with mridangam master Karaikudi R Mani. We performed in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta, and have subsequently performed with Sri Mani throughout Australia and Europe. He has become one of the towering figures in my life, both musically, and as a trusted friend and spiritual guide.
Just at this time, I began a stint as ABC television's Commissioning Editor for Arts and Entertainment. Nothing could have prepared me for the political minefield that came buried in this sodden turf. The ABC, a political football kept in play since the 70's, underwent one of its regular budget cuts early in my time as an executive, and the organization went through a kind of mild systemic meltdown, with a rationalist agenda forcing a split between the commissioning and production areas in television. This without really taking into account the fact that a lot of the expertise necessary to make good arts programmes, from both a journalistic and production perspective, were found within and nurtured by the old departmental system. The powers that be finally figured that out, and returned to the old structure shortly after my departure. Add to that some ill-advised tampering with programmes and personnel, and the whole thing was tedious. I did commission, among many other things, the most successful product to come out of Arts and Entertainment for many years, the documentary history of Australian popular music "A Long Way to the Top".
Life post-ABC returned me to time better spent. I composed music for my dear friend, filmmaker Paul Cox (Molokai and Innocence), as well as first-time director John Polsen (Siam Sunset), and worked with senior British director John Irvin on the NBC mini-series Noah's Ark. This led to my first overseas feature film, the UK production Shiner. My first opera The Mercenary, with a haunting text by Janis Balodis, was commissioned by NORPA. During 2000, a particular favourite of mine came to fruition, the theatre piece The Theft of Sita. Working with the Balinese composer I Gde Wayan Yudane, I was able to realize a dream I had secretly been harbouring since first visiting Bali in 1987, namely to bring the worlds of jazz and Balinese gamelan together. Five Balinese multi-instrumentalists joined John Rodgers, violin, Adrian Sherriff, bass trombone, Sandy Evans, saxes, Ren Walters, guitar and electronics, Nico Schauble drums and Shelley Scown, vocals to create the most extraordinary sounds. Directed by the wonderful Nigel Jamieson, and featuring the remarkable puppetry of I Made Sidia and Peter Wilson, the piece premiered in Adelaide, and has since toured worldwide. Also in 2000, the Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies, the Paralympics closing ceremony, and the AAO's first European tour, with "Into the Fire". A very busy time, indeed.
The highlights of the last three years have been across the areas I love: theatre, film and jazz. My opera "Love in the Age of Therapy", commissioned by the Victorian Arts centre for OzOpera, and with an hilarious libretto by Joanna Murray-Smith, played in Melbourne and Sydney. I began my professional association with an old friend, director Fred Schepisi, on his masterpiece "Last Orders", and continued my collaboration with Paul Cox on "The Diaries of Vaclav Nijinsky". And another dream came true. I recorded an album of original jazz compositions with some of my all-time favourite players: Branford Marsalis (soprano sax), Joe Lovano (tenor sax), Scott Tinkler (trumpet), Ed Schuller (bass) and Jeff 'Tain' Watts (drums). The CD has the working title "Tales of Time and Space". It was financed by Warner/ Chappell, my publisher, due to the enthusiasm of Adam Lang, the new CEO, and put together and co-produced by my manager Maggie Rodford. It will be released in Australia through Warner Music and in the USA and beyond on the Sanctuary label. With another album of trio music in the can, recently recorded with Nico Schauble and Philip Rex, and due for release on ABC Music this year, it would appear that there is life beyond 44 after all.