Multi-faceted actor, performer, singer Tim Draxl’s new album “My Funny Valentine” will be released to coincide with the Sydney Opera house performances of his one man show “Freeway - The Chet Baker Journey”.
Draxl, who recently was seen in the Australian comedy feature film A Few Best Men alongside Olivia Newton-John and soon to be seen in a TV drama based on the life of Ronald Biggs, has long been a fan of the songs made famous by Chet Baker. In 2009 Producer/writer Bryce Hallett and Tim Draxl created the show Freeway based on the brilliant talent and extraordinary life of famous singer and musician Chet Baker.
When Freeway - The Chet Baker Journey began life at the tiny yet legendary jazz club el Rocco in Kings Cross it attracted audiences from 18 to 80 and met with universal praise. Broadway star Lillias White fell in love with Tim Draxl’s restrained and seductive voice whi le the Australian theatre director Jim Sharman responded to the intimacy and haunting tone of Freeway. He said: “The experience felt akin to seeing Chet Baker in one of those smoky, over-crowded joints he played in LA.”
A familiar comment after each performance has been, “who needs Michael Buble when you’ve got Tim Draxl”, a sentiment echoed at last year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival where it played to sellout crowds. Many fans wanted to know when an album would be released. Finallly the time has come.
Freeway co-writer and associate producer Bryce Hallett says the album, like the biographical show itself, will enable younger audiences to discover something of the spirit and sound of Chet Baker who came to be known as “the Prince of Cool” in the ‘50s.
When Kate Ceberano, an avowed Chet Baker fan, saw Freeway in Adelaide last year she was quickly seduced. “Tim is a great singer, a natural actor and a massive spunk to boot,” she said. “Add that to the sounds and songbook of the late, great Chet Baker and it’s a marriage made in jazz heaven.”