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Click here to go to JANE's new website - www.janebrownlee.com
NEW CD of Australian folk instrumental music
a fresh view of a bunch of great old tunes....
Shoestring Production Cat. No. SR33, forming part of the Australian Roots Series
Issued September 2001
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This recording of Australian music bridges the old and the new. Many of the tunes are from a rich storehouse of authentic recordings of older performers collected over a period of 50 years presented in a fresh and lively manner.
Jane pictured here jamming with
her musical nephew - Samuel De Santi. |
Performance booking enquiries to: Jane Brownlee, jane@janebrownlee.com
REVIEWS
Review by Bob Bolton
This is a CD of fiddle music ... but not quite like you hear from the average bush band. For a start, it is almost all traditional collected music from old Australian players ... but then it is not interpreted from a dry-as-dust historical perspective or limited by the performance of old players being recorded before their music "disappears for ever".
This is played by a skilful and innovative player, drawing on the disciplines of classical music and teaching skills, combined with a love of the fine old music she has heard around her ssibilities. Jane brings together musicians from both her folk music side and her teaching/classical side and reinterprets these (mostly) fine old tunes ... and enjoys herself!
There is little point in listing off a lot of old tunes, with which you ought to be familiar, because you probably will need to listen hard before you recognise many of them. Jane has felt free to play them as if she was having fun - with a bunch of friends, who happen to play guitar, cello, bass, accordion and percussion - along with her fiddle, viola and piano. The result is a fresh view of a bunch of great old tunes.
Buy the CD and enjoy the tunes and the playing. Finding the old favourites, among some fine but less well-known old tunes ... and two or three modern tunes (... and Pachelbel's Canon!) will be like gouging fire opals from raw earth of Lightning Ridge.
Bob Bolton, January 2002
THE TRACKS
1 schoolmaster, 3:14
the old schoolmaster - from Tom Walsh, Trentham, Vic.
the boyne hunt - from Frank Collins, Boxers Creek near Goulburn, NSW
coming down the mountain -from Sally Sloane, NSW
2 walk about, 4:59
lancers third figure - from Colin Charlton, Cookamidgera, NSW
walk around - from Stan Treacy, Limerick, NSW
3 schottishanova, 2:51
ollie watts schottsiche - collected from Arthur Bowley, Marshall Mount, NSW
4 blacktown jig, 3:44
by Ray Schoeffel
5 millenium, 4:00
millenium reel - written by Judy Turner
catharsis - written by Gerry Holland from Cape Breton
pachelbel canon - by Pachelbel
6 joe's varso's no.1 and 2, 3:25
varsovianas from Joe Yates, Sofala
7 schmokin polkas, 5:10
bill coopers polka - from Bill Cooper, Forbes, NSW
see saw polka - from Harry Cotter, Binalong, NSW
stan treacy's polka - from Stan Treacy
8 up the yard, 3:55
wedding of lochan mcgraw - from Joe Yates
trentham jig- from Tom Walsh, Trentham, Vic
spirits of whiskey - from Joe Cashmere, Booligal, NSW
9 the old set, 3:16
the old set - from Ernie Wells, Wingham
rita bakers first set tune - from Rita Baker, Gulgong, NSW
10 joes reel, 4:08
from Joe Yates, with rhythm
11 perry's air, 1:57
by Jane Brownlee, in memory of her fiddle teacher, Perry Hart
MUSICIANS
Jane Brownlee: fiddles, viola, piano
Saul Richardson: guitar
Heather Shaw: cello, percussion track 3
David De Santi: piano accordion
Elizabeth Frencham: bass
Phil Burke: percussion - track 1, 5, 9
Johnny Spillane: percussion - track 4, 7
Arrangements by Jane Brownlee: Tracks 1, 6, 9, 11
Arrangements by Jane Brownlee and Saul Richardson: Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
Recorded by Robert Specogna at Main Street Studios
BIOGRAPHY
Jane is a multi-instrumentalist being equally at home on a violin, viola or piano and has a classical training. She is currently the Learning Coordinator for Entertainment and Performing Arts at Bradfield College, Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE.
She plays in the popular Australian folk and bush band Wongawilli and has been involved in a number of other musical projects including the powered folk rock group Big Snore Hammers, Winetime, Willi's Turf Band, Three Girls and an Accordion, Bulletproof, The Wombats and has played in her mother's old time dance band - The Marshall Mount Merrymakers.
She also freelances as a folk and classical violinist and has performed with James Taylor, Saddlerash, Fiddler's Festival, Electric Light Orchestra and folk bands around Sydney.
She also encourages younger fiddlers through the organising of the Sydney Fiddle Band.
Sydney Fiddle Band
Growing from strength to strength this group of classically trained violinists are thoroughly enjoying their initiation into traditional folk music with the guidance of Jane Brownlee. They have developed a passion for collected Australian tunes, and play with an energy and enthusiasm that is a pleasure to see and hear. They received excellent reviews for their performances at the recent Tamar Valley Folk Festival in Tasmania.
LINKS
Wongawilli Band
Wongawilli Colonial Dance Club Inc.
Jane Brownlee homepage
This page designed by David De Santi. Last revised: January 16, 2004
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