It's taken more than 20 years for the musical friendship of Kate Ceberano and Paul Grabowsky to produce their first debut album together, but it's been well worth the wait.
'Tryst' is the result of a bond between Kate and Paul, who first met around 25 years ago and became fast friends, even as their respective careers zoomed in different directions.
“I met Paul when he was just a young student and I had a young jazz band,” Kate explains.
“He was starting to be a composer… Now he's quite a senior heavy, if you will, but me, I just went on to having a pop career and I changed around – I did a bit of jazz – but mostly I stuck with pop and the singer-songwriting thing.”
The first album from Kate and Paul as a duo, 'Tryst' is a very personal collection of classic and standard love songs revisited by the pair. With the chemistry the two share, it's a wonder why they've waited so long to collaborate on a release.
“I think it's because it all seemed a bit too simple – I know that sounds stupid,” Kate says. “It's not really a jazz album, it's popular classics that are revisited by Paul who is a famous jazz and music composer, and my work as a singer-songwriter is probably more pop and commercial so we thought it was too simple to do this, it's just piano and voice.
“But I think our voices are very characteristic and independent of each other; I think people recognise Paul's playing as very distinctive and I think they recognise my voice, which has its own distinctive sound. So when you put the two characters together, it's a very distinctive album and I'm very proud of it.”
If nothing else, 'Tryst' stands as a tribute to the long-standing friendship Kate and Paul have shared as people and professionals. “That's pretty much what we did it for, to celebrate the relationship,” Kate concurs.
Kate and Paul will perform the songs from 'Tryst' on a national tour that sees the two back where they belong – side by side, on stage.
For those of you thinking that perhaps the world has had enough of silly love songs, Kate's here to tell you that simply isn't so.
“The world is so out of love and it's desperately trying to get back in love,” she says.
“You've got people demanding and desiring for people to respect love and honour love, and it almost seems too easy to go and sing these perfect love songs but it does seem to do something good for the world.”
This year has also seen Kate come back together with one of her earliest bands, I'm Talking, in what she says is a stark contrast to her work with Paul. “You couldn't get something more different from making a record with Paul Grabowsky than playing with I'm Talking,” she laughs.
“It's like my life is one big circle - it just keeps going round and round.”
Kate Ceberano and Paul Grabowsky 'Tryst' Tour 2019
Fri 16 Aug - QPAC (Brisbane)Sat 21 Sep - Arts Centre Melbourne
Wed 25 Sep - The Playhouse (Canberra)
Thu 26 Sep - City Recital Hall (Sydney)
Sat 2 Nov - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)
