Simone Waddell, a creative Sydneysider, brings new life to the jazz classic Unforgettable, collaborating with Nadje Noordhuis and Paul Grabowsky in a refined new recording.
Late evening in Sydney often carries a certain softness. In quiet studio rooms scattered across the city, music is shaped long after daylight fades – the gentle clink of piano keys, the hush of a microphone catching breath before a note. It is in this space, somewhere between reflection and performance, that Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature begins to take shape.
Waddell’s recent recording of Unforgettable arrives with the quiet confidence of someone who understands the weight of a classic yet chooses not to wrestle with it. Instead, she approaches the song with restraint – the kind that allows space for nuance and intimacy.
Originally composed by Irving Gordon and immortalised by Nat King Cole, the song carries decades of musical memory. Covering it is not unlike stepping into a room already filled with history. But Waddell does not attempt to recreate what came before. Her interpretation simply takes its place beside it.
Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature In A City Of Quiet Studios
Sydney’s music culture often reveals itself not in stadiums but in smaller, quieter corners – rehearsal rooms above cafés, late-night recording sessions tucked inside suburban studios.
For Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature, the journey of Unforgettable unfolded across several such spaces. The lead vocal was recorded at Kings X Studio in Sydney, a setting where subtlety can be captured without distraction.
Waddell’s voice sits gently within the arrangement. There is no theatrical flourish, no attempt to overpower the melody. Instead, her phrasing moves carefully, each line placed with the kind of patience that jazz has always rewarded.
Listening to the recording feels less like witnessing a performance and more like overhearing a conversation carried quietly across a table.
The Collaborators Behind Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature
While the vocal forms the centre of the recording, the surrounding musicians give the piece its atmosphere.
Australian jazz pianist Paul Grabowsky provides the foundation. His playing unfolds with understated elegance – chords that never rush, notes that linger just long enough to shape the mood without demanding attention.
The piano was recorded in Melbourne, adding another geographical layer to the collaboration. Despite the distance, the result feels seamless, as if the musicians were gathered together in the same dimly lit room.
The recording also features the distinctive flugelhorn of Nadje Noordhuis. Her instrument drifts through the arrangement like a late-night echo, soft-edged and reflective. Recorded in New York, the flugelhorn lines bring a sense of quiet longing to the track.
Across three cities – Sydney, Melbourne and New York – the recording becomes a conversation that crosses oceans yet remains intimate.
Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature And The Art Of Restraint
What defines this moment in Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature is not reinvention for its own sake but a thoughtful return to the emotional core of the song.
Waddell herself has spoken about the personal connection she feels with Unforgettable, describing the experience of recording it as “coming home”. That sense of familiarity carries through the performance. The melody unfolds naturally, guided more by feeling than by strict interpretation.
In jazz, silence can be as important as sound. The spaces between notes allow listeners to absorb what has just passed. Waddell’s approach understands this instinctively.
Her voice moves through the song like a slow walk through familiar streets – measured, reflective, never hurried.
The arrangement mirrors that restraint. Grabowsky’s piano provides warmth and quiet structure, while Noordhuis’s flugelhorn enters like a breath of cool night air.
The result is music that invites listeners to lean closer rather than sit back.
Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature In Conversation With Tradition
Every jazz interpretation inevitably enters into dialogue with those that came before. For Unforgettable, that lineage stretches across generations.
Yet Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature approaches that tradition with a sense of ease. Rather than chasing the grandeur of earlier recordings, the performance remains intentionally grounded.
The recording trusts simplicity. A voice, a piano, a horn – each element placed with care.
There is something quietly contemporary about that decision. In an era often defined by excess production, the restraint feels refreshing.
Instead of presenting the song as a museum piece, Waddell allows it to breathe again. The melody moves forward gently, carrying the weight of its past while still sounding present.
A Voice That Finds Its Own Space
By the time the final notes fade, the recording leaves behind a particular kind of stillness.
The flugelhorn dissolves into silence. The piano rests on its last chord. Waddell’s voice lingers for a moment longer before the room returns to quiet.
That quiet feels appropriate for Simone Waddell | A Creative Sydneysider Feature, because the performance itself never tries to dominate the listener. Instead, it invites reflection.
Like many enduring jazz recordings, the strength lies not in volume or spectacle but in tone and feeling.
Somewhere between Sydney’s recording studios, Melbourne’s piano room and a small New York studio where a flugelhorn once sang into the night, a familiar song has found a new moment.
Not louder. Not grander.
Simply – unforgettable.
Recording Details
Song: Unforgettable
Composer: Irving Gordon
Lead Vocal: Simone Waddell
Recorded by Michael Tan at Kings X Studio – Sydney, Australia
Piano: Paul Grabowsky
Recorded by Trevor Carter at Empire Music Studios – Melbourne, Australia
Flugelhorn: Nadje Noordhuis
Recorded at Little Mystery Studios – New York, USA
Mixing & Mastering: Michael Tan – Kings X Studio, Sydney
Producer: Simone Waddell