Born to a classical soprano mother, and a folk loving father, Irwin was raised in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria. Irwin's musical life was born at home. At age 9, he was welcomed into a Brady Bunch-esque step-family of brass players, pianists and conductors. Learning from his brother-in-law, Irwin showed early talent as an instrumentalist, and very quickly developed as a jazztrumpet player. Influenced by the greats like Miles Davis, Clifford Brown and Louis Armstrong. At age 15, Irwin was already working professionally as a jazz and commercial trumpeter, playing pubs, restaurants and clubs in his hometown Melbourne. Since those early days, Irwin has never looked back. Aside from his solo career, he has ended up working as a multi-instrumentalist and sideman with artists like Megan Washington, Brooke Fraser, Magnolia and Tinpan Orange. His involvement with seminal Australian bands The Cat Empire and The Bamboos, to his highly ambitious compositions and arrangements that have been performed by countless big bands and orchestras have cemented him in the Australian music industry. Most recently he has also added co-writer, arranger and producer credits to this list, for bands and artists like Lanu, Felix Riebl, The Cat Empire, and The Bamboos.
Solo Project
Having suffered a clean break of heart in 2009, Irwin retreated to the Canada mountain town of Nelson. After three weeks of late autumn cold, Irwin returned with a pocket full of songs, and soon after recorded 'The Hunting Road', with producer John Castle at The Shed studio in Melbourne. His debut album,"The Hunting Road" was released through Vitamin Records on 5 September 2011. Irwin then went on to independently release his first EP 'Wasted' in 2013, again with producer John Castle. This time however it was recorded at the newly built Pick and Mix Studios in the Dandenong ranges with musician and producer Ben Edgar. The artwork for this release was created by Melbourne digital artist Kate Moon, the two collaborated and created a world of imagery inspired by his appreciation for the work of writers such as Kazuo Koike and Haruki Murakami. This art work is to be featured in the next 2 of Irwin's releases. He has toured the Australia playing his own solo shows and in support of some of Australia's great musical success stories such as Vance Joy, Ella Hooper, and Julia Stone.
