A Dazzling Achievement
Review of Meet Me in the Middle of the Air
Paul Kelly redux. The ability of jazz maestro Paul Grabowsky to reinterpret a disparate cluster of Paul Kelly's folk and rock'n'roll songs into sweeping rhapsodies and intricate jazz workouts is a dazzling achievement. Performed by the 10-member Australian Art Orchestra, Grabowsky's new arrangements are supple enough to glide through melding passages of immense beauty and possibility; Be Careful What You Pray For becomes a sassy Cuban salsa with a gypsy violin solo, Passed Over blows into a soaring ragtime New Orleans jazz rave-up, Love is the Law tumbles from symphony into a street carnival, Gathering Storm swells into a solemn spiritual of immense power and gravity.
Through all this, Kelly takes a back seat in proceedings, his craggy voice a cameo feature and often in a narrator's role, with a range of vocal colour provided by Linda Bull (outstanding on the poignant ballad Jump to Love), Vika Bull and the outstanding seven-voice Adelaide choir (featuring members of the group Supernova) and suddenly, Kelly's 14 conversations with God penned over about 15 years become a compelling suite, Grabowsky's tender musical touch helping to pull sharp focus on words that skirt envy, desire, doubt, hope and redemption. It shows the Paul Kelly songbook to be one of the richest mines to plunder in contemporary Australian music.
- The Independant Weekly (David Sly), 12 June 2006
Reviews of Meet Me in the Middle of the Air
