Birchall and Woolhouse: The Scenery of Life Unfolding – album cover
Title: The Scenery of Life Unfolding
Artist: Birchall and Woolhouse
Release date: 4th December 2013
Label: Jazz Piano Australia
Website: www.jazzpiano.com.au
Email: jeremy@jeremywoolhouse.com.au
Direct audio link: http://music.jazzpiano.com.au/album/the-scenery-of-life-unfolding
“a beautiful duet … introspective melody … flowing improvisation” – Kevin Johnson, No Trebble
The Scenery of Life Unfolding tells tales of intrigue and evokes images of haunting beauty. It has been described as “a cinematic journey, articulating emotions stirred by departures, distance and transience.”
The duo’s new album celebrates the drama and melancholy of contemporary jazz. Equanimity meets passion in an idiosyncratic take on the piano and bass duo lineup, with a respectful nod to the duet recordings of Charlie Haden.
Birchall and Woolhouse
The intimacy of the duet allows for spacious, relaxed interaction between pianist Jeremy Woolhouse and bassist Shannon Birchall. The duo feature compositions from Jeremy stemming from the traditions of jazz and branching out to embrace gospel, contemporary jazz, pop, classical and South American music.
In the duet setting, the virtuosity of Shannon Birchall comes to the fore as the bass weaves a rich tapestry with the piano. Soaring bowed melodies and contrapuntal interplay contrast steady groove and dramatic unison. Jeremy and Shannon first collaborated in 2002 in the Estuary Three jazz-tango project on Jeremy’s album Thumbnails. The duo reunited in 2012 to record The Scenery of Life Unfolding and continue the journey into lightness and darkness, illusion and delusion.
As a pianist and composer, Jeremy Woolhouse has been commended for lyrical melodies and elegant use of harmony. He received critical acclaim for recordings and performance in his original jazz-tango group Estuary Three, jazz trio Woolhouse-Michailidis-Robertson and solo project The Persistence of Dreaming. Jeremy leads Silverbeat Quartet and performs in number of outstanding projects for festivals, jazz clubs and concert venues.
Shannon Birchall – bass
Shannon Birchall is revered as a virtuoso of double bass. His credits range from the MSO, traditional-jazz-punk-band The Hoodangers, Austro-Cuban septet Sally Ford and the Pachuco Playboys, tex-mex band Texicali Rose, Deborah Conway, and The Spaghetti Western Orchestra. He spent several years as bassist for John Butler, who described him as part of “the best line up I have performed with …. a pleasure to live, love, learn, record and tour with.”
