Elixir
Take a voice releasing itself raw, without edit, in a room with a guitar man, equally free, exploring the poetry of another. See a room next door, split from the perfect pitch and the guitar, where the saxophone spirit plays alone. And pause to remember – this is recorded live.
A magical elixir in the making. Poetry cast intimately, acoustically, with jazz as its setting, by three friends, for the sake of it.
Founded in nineteen-96 by Katie Noonan and Nick Stewart of the double-platinum selling, ARIA award winning band ‘george’, and River Petein, who has since gone on to pursue solo opportunities overseas, Elixir first came together for a cabaret style performance called “The Parlour” at Jamieson’s in Brisbane in an innovative venture to put to music the rich words of Brisbane poet, MartinChallis.
Why, you might ask? Well it all started with a phone call from a friend who read the words of Challis’ poem ‘raspberry tea’ to Katie. A few weeks later, unable to stop the words roaming in her head, Katie was sitting at the piano setting them to music. When Nick heard what she was working on, his subtle and beautiful acoustic guitar formed the stepping stone that brought full life to songs such as ‘Tip of Memory’, ‘Saigon Battle Children 1972’ and ‘Breath of Grace’.
After a period of three years performing in and around Brisbane at the likes of The Jazzy Cat and The Southbank Festival, the vocal delights of Katie and the compositional elegance of both Katie and Nick were joined by fellow conservatorium scholar, Isaac Hurren. A tenor sax player coming from the school of Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, Zac brought a soulful new sound to Elixir.
The trio’s repertoire of poetry set to music evolved naturally to include their own material (including ‘Before you Sleep’, ‘Harvest of Rain’, ‘Essence of My Love’, ‘Drunk on Her Taste’ and ‘River of She’) as well as dedications to compositions that had inspired and influenced their music over the years in the form of covers.
Riverman (Nick Drake), introduced to the band by River’s father Patrick Petein, touched and moved the trio with his voice, his original guitar style and the intimacy of the song. It fitted perfectly with the natural feel that was growing from Elixir.
Blue (Vince Jones), introduced to Katie by her brother Tyrone, was chosen as a dedication to one of Australia’s great jazz composers whose musicality and live performances have greatly influenced Katie since first seeing him in Brisbane in the mid 90’s.
Overlap (Ani Di Franco) was chosen in homage to the earthiness and passion of a great songwriter and the art of songwriting.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John/Bernie Taupin), a classic love pop song, spoke out to the trio after a late night session shared together. One of Elton’s finest tunes in the opinion of Elixir, it simply married itself with their sound that evening. Legendary Bris-Vegas guitarist Jamie Clark adds a fabulous nylon string guitar solo to the recording.
Second Sight (Jamie Clarke) came about through friendship. The aforementioned Jamie had worked with Katie on a number of occasions and she had always wanted to record a version of this song, heard at a cabaret show in Brisbane sung by the wonderful local jazz chanteuse Leah Cotterell. Leah and friend Meg Kanowskli wrote the lyrics and when it came to recording, Jamie sat in with the band and added his dimensions to the piece.
Wooing audiences in the meantime with their breathtaking performances, Elixir performed in venues as intimate as Ric’s Café and The Press Club to huge audiences at The Brisbane Festival, The Queensland Poetry Festival, The Pinnacles Festival and The Woodford Folk Festival.
With the continuing collaboration of the poet, Martin Challis, Elixir began pre-production in December 2002. Tracks were recorded completely live, with Katie and Nick in one room and Zac in another (to mellow the huge sound of Zac’s saxophone). Friends joined in and played on the album completing the desire to present music as an experience. The result? Sixteen tracks recorded in four days.
This self-titled album presents a stunning crossover of art mediums, presented in its most organic form – the spontaneity of the live performance.
Elixir is grace in musical colours.
Listen. Be stimulated. Lulled. Satisfied.
