"Grabowsky's Backwards Bell Ringing is a Triumph"
The Australian Art Orchestra had its first incarnation as the Paul Grabowsky Orchestra, which performed 'Ringing the Bell Backwards' at the Melbourne International Festival in 1993, and again at the Continental Cafe in January 1994, just before recording this album. Those who witnessed any of those performances should welcome this opportunity to re-examine this music, while those hearing it for the first time will be amazed by its scope and complexity.
'Ringing the Bell Backwards' is a program of European popular songs of the 30s and 40s, songs such as 'La Vie En Rose' and 'We'll Meet Again', radically rearranged by Paul Grabowsky. His charts incorporate all manner of familiar and unexpected sounds; devices both dramatic and humorous; rhythms borrowed from music as diverse as Cuban and South African; and passages for the soloists in the band to assert themselves. The soloists include trumpeters Scott Tinkler and Stephen Grant, saxophonists Ian Chaplin and Tim Hopkins, trombonist Simon Kent and violinist John Rodgers, all notably bold. This music is so densely layered and detailed, so imaginatively conceived and so brilliantly executed, it requires repeated listening before you can begin to absorb all of what it has to offer. It is a triumph for Grabowsky and his colleagues, and imposing proof that the best in Australian jazz is right up there with best creative endeavours to be heard anywhere.
- The Age (Adrian Jackson), 27 April 1995
