He started out as an indie rock star but lately Tyrone Noonan is every bit the jazz man. And if you are lucky enough to catch him playing around Brisbane with his band Palimpsest, you’re in for a treat.
Keep an eye out for his mum, too, because she’s often there as she was the other night when we caught Palimpsest featuring Tyrone Noonan, as they are known, at the Brisbane Jazz Club where they play occasionally. It’s a classic venue on the river at Kangaroo Point with a feast of jazz every week.
The Noonans are a highly talented family. Mum Maggie, who we caught up with at the gig (nice to be a rock star whose mum comes to your shows) is an acclaimed opera singer, while dad Brian is a former journo and crooner. Maggie and Brian met on a talent show.
Tyrone and sister Katie made a name for themselves as the creative force behind the hugely successful indie band George, whose debut album Polyserena went straight to the top of the charts in 2002.
George is reprised from time to time. Tyrone Noonan also has an outstanding Marvin Gaye tribute show up his sleeve, What’s Going On, which debuted at last year’s Brisbane Festival and featured him out front, backed by Palimpsest and other local musos.
Katie Noonan has gone on to do impressive things with her amazing voice and talent for collaborating, running festivals and recording great albums across genres.
Tyrone Noonan is a bit of a renaissance man working across genres, too. This ARIA Award-winning artist is Queensland rock royalty (along with Katie) and his most recent solo album, Utopia, released in 2021, has been described as “a sonic melting pot fusing unabashed pop with luscious sprawling ballads”.
That album has a poignant touch also because one of the songs features a collaboration with the late Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens fame and is the last recording to feature McLennan’s voice.
Then there’s the jazz. It has long been a passion of Noonan’s. He and his band play classic fare including songs by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Harry Connick Jr and many others.
We’ve been attending his jazz gigs at the Doo Bop Bar in the city, and other venues, for years. His band is just getting tighter and tighter.
There’s something relaxed but classy about Noonan’s stage presence, with nods to other jazz greats. Like them, he is not averse to sipping a whisky between songs.
The gig we caught at Brisbane Jazz Club recently included I’ve Got You Under My Skin (a Sinatra classic) along with hits including Fly Me to the Moon and The Lady is a Tramp, plus other songs by a variety of artists. Noonan likes to surprise at times, too, so he slipped in a David Bowie number, Ashes to Ashes, as a treat. Because he can.
That gig featured a guest pianist, local muso Peta Leigh Wilson, who was terrific. The band’s regular keyboard player is Wil Sargisson with Aaron Jansz on drums and Joshua Hatcher on double bass.
Noonan says he got the jazz bug back in the days when there were regular jazz gigs at the old Travelodge on Roma Street in the city.
“It was hearing Vince Jones play there that did it,” Noonan recalls. “That initiated my passion for jazz and it kind of went from there. In the 1990s I was doing a lot of jazz and getting paid to educate myself.
“The thing I love about jazz is that it is timeless. It was great to see quite a few younger people in the audience at the Brisbane Jazz Club the other night. It appeals to everyone.”
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Noonan’s jazz touchstone is the classic album Sinatra at the Sands, recorded in Las Vegas in 1966. But he has wide and varied jazz tastes including the American singer Mark Murphy, whose songs feature in some shows.
“I got to see his 80th birthday gig when I was living in New York,” Noonan says. “That was really special because he is not with us anymore.”
In between jazz gigs Noonan is working on a new album, of covers, tentatively titled Preloved.
If you haven’t seen Palimpsest featuring Tyrone Noonan in action,you can catch them soon at the Doo Bop Bar in the city with their show When Harry Met Frank.
If you go, say hello to this mum, Maggie. She’s sure to be there. Music is the family business, after all.
Palimpsest featuring Tyrone Noonan play the Doo Bop Bar, Brisbane CBD, on April 13; doo-bop.com.au
brisbanejazzclub.com.au
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