''Before Time Could Change Us'' is the collaborative studio album by Australian jazz writer/singer and composer

Paul Grabowsky Paul Atherstone Grabowsky (born 27 September 1958) is an Australian pianist and composer. Biography Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Grabowsky is a pianist and composer of music for film, theatre and opera. His father Alistair had lived in Pap ...

and singer-songwriter

Katie Noonan Katie Anne Noonan (born 2 May 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she was the singer in the band George and remains the singer in the band Elixir; perf ...

. The album was released in August 2005. and peaked at number 65 on the ARIA Charts for the week commencing 22 August 2005. The songs on the album are set to love lyrics by the late poet,

Dorothy Porter Dorothy Featherstone Porter (26 March 1954 – 10 December 2008) was an Australian poet. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award for lifetime achievement in poetry. Early life Porter was born in Sydney. Her father was barrister ...

. Grabowsky said; "Dot’s words are magnificent: she always had the power to compress complex ideas into a few well chosen – and musical – lines, or even just single explosive words. The music runs the gamut from jazz and latin-informed structures to something more approaching art-song.

, who possesses rare and exquisite vocal talents, sings them beautifully, and the band, in which I am joined by Scott Tinkler, trumpet, Philip Rex, bass and Simon Barker on drums, play up a storm." At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2005 The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney Superdome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the pre ...

, it won the

ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Jazz Album is an award presented within the Fine Arts Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The award for Best Jazz Album was first presented in 1987, when George Golla Orchestra, received a trophy for their album ...

. The two toured the album nationally.

Background

Noonan meet Paul Grabowsky dressed in a garbage bag at the

Woodford Folk Festival The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural events of its type in Australia. Every year ap ...

sometime in the early noughties. Paul came and heard

Elixir ELIXIR (the European life-sciences Infrastructure for biological Information) is an initiative that will allow life science laboratories across Europe to share and store their research data as part of an organised network. Its goal is to bring t ...

sing and soon after asked Noonan to join the Australian Art Orchestra on a European tour. Shortly after this,

Lyndon Terracini Lyndon William Terracini, OSI (born 1949), is an Australian operatic baritone and from 2009 to October 2022 artistic director of Opera Australia. Early life Terracini was born in 1949, the oldest of four children born to Shirley and Vita Ter ...

commissioned Paul to write a song cycle for the

Queensland Music Festival The Queensland Music Festival (QMF) is a series of musical events staged in a number of locations in Queensland, Australia, usually around late July, every second year. It is financially supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queens ...

with the late poet

. Written for Noonan and a quartet featuring some of Australia's most fearless jazz musicians (namely Scott Tinkler – trumpet, Philip Rex – double bass and Simon Barker – drums/cymbals), the two recorded the album. Noonan said; "This album was one of the hardest albums I have ever made! Not only musically challenging but I was babe in the woods with this intense band!! I remember doing one of our first live takes and going outside and have a good cry in the gutter, nevertheless, I came out the other side relatively unscathed and am extremely proud of this album and we had a great time touring Australia with this music". Comprising sixteen songs, the cycle explores the trajectory of a single relationship. "Before Time Could Change Us" is the final song in the cycle, and expresses what Porter referred to as the 'We'll always have Paris' effect – the mature realisation that the breakup had made both parties stronger.

Reviews

Bridland said; "

and

are three of Australia's finest artists - each unique, extremely talented and famous in their own particular field of endeavour. On this exciting new CD, the jazz musician, the singer and the poet have spun a magic piece of music. ''Before Time Could Change Us'' is a work of extraordinary breadth and delicacy. Not simply a work of jazz, it borrows from all manner of genre and art to create something unique, a fluid work of breathtaking beauty and emotion. You've never heard Katie Noonan sing like this before. In fact, you will never have heard anything quite like ''Before Time Could Change Us'', full stop."

Track listing

*All songs written by

and

and feature Grabowsky and

on vocals. ; Disc 2 # "Not My Type" - 5:02 # "Incapable of Caution" - 3:21 # "Amazing Possibility" - 4:57 # "You're Here" - 6:04 # "Taking You On" - 7:00 # "Tip to Toe" - 6:14 # "Hot & Cold" - 4:35 # "Nothing to Say" - 4:19 # "Lucky Escape" - 4:04 ; Disc 2 # "So Hard" - 6:34 # "The Most Beautiful Thing" - 7:11 # "Haunted" - 4:37 # "If Snakes Could Fly" - 4:40 # "Back in My World" - 5:18 # "Just a Con" - 7:20 # "Before Time Could Change Us" - 5:29

Weekly charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums ARIA Award-winning albums Collaborative albums Katie Noonan albums Jazz albums by Australian artists Self-released albums Paul Grabowsky albums