There are no more important figures in the Australian jazz scene than Vince Jones and Paul Grabowsky.

 

Platinum-selling singer Vince Jones needs no introduction to any music lover, renowned for the beauty and eloquence of his voice and trumpet playing. Paul Grabowsky is an acclaimed pianist of the utmost sensitivity, and a distinguished artist who has won eight ARIA Awards in a career spanning over 40 years. Their live shows presents repertoire spanning over 30 years of collaboration. 

 

Their most recent release is the ARIA-Award winning album Provenance. The album title refers to the returning-to-roots concept that their latest album represents. Vince and Paul first worked together in the 1980s, when Grabowsky was music director to Jones; Provenance marks a renewed collaboration between the pair after several decades apart. But the word also describes the music which the duo chose to record: ballads that showcase the essential elements of their craft, elements that have been the foundations of their astonishing careers, pared down to the intimate combination of piano and voice (and occasionally piano and flumpet – a hybrid of trumpet and flugelhorn).

 

Provenance is “a collection of timeless songs with beautiful melodies”, as Vince puts it. The album begins with ‘Rainbow Cake’, composed by the pair in the 1980s. ‘Oh My Love’, written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, takes on touching poignancy in this new rendition;  plus classics ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ and ‘Stella By Starlight’,  demonstrating the famous skill and sensitivity possessed by these master craftsmen.