JAZZ
The Art Of Collaboration
Simone Waddell
Ambition Records
★★★★½
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This amazing album, Simone Waddell’s fifth, has so much going for it, it’s difficult to know where to start. A gorgeous singer, her talent of Kate Ceberano proportions. Waddell moves effortlessly between jazz, soul and pop genres.
Twelve tracks include excellent versions of five classic hits from John Farnham, Midnight Oil, Daryl Brathwaite, Crowded House and INXS, plus impressive originals mostly written by Waddell herself. Sixty musicians and singers were enlisted, recording in sixteen studios in Australia, Britain, and the US. Jazz icons such as James Morrison, Paul Grabowsky, James Greening and Tommy Emmanuel are here, and singers include Rai Thistlethwayte, Pat Powell and Barry Leef.
The sound is impeccable, and the considerable promotional clout behind the release – extremely rare for what is essentially a jazz album – results in a very glossy package indeed. A big investment has paid off handsomely. I daresay that Australian music has rarely seen such a prodigious assembly of talent congregated on one superb album.
Eric Myers
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