When Winter Turns To Spring (Lateralize Records)
Jo Harrop and Paul Edis
Released December 9, 2022
2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards Album of the Year
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About:
Lateralize Records are proud to announce the release of When Winter Turns To Spring – the first album by Jo Harrop and pianist, Paul Edis. After receiving unanimous critical acclaim for her solo debut, The Heart Wants, Harrop has spent the last year working in London’s Gorilla Studios with Edis and producer, Jamie McCredie, to create this richly textured and reflective journey through the seasons. Seamlessly combining Bacharach-esq chamber pop and sophisticated jazz, When Winter Turns To Spring is a beautiful, wistful album that defies categorisation.
“Most of the songs on this record seem to be about the circle of nature and the cycle of life reminding us that all is not lost,” she explains. “Winter is temporary, as is loss, and spring and love will come again.
“We often hear love being compared to the changing seasons. Summertime is associated with romance and joy – mellow and warm. Spring is the season where nature is brought back to life by its welcome kiss, lifting us out of a long, cold and dark winter, which brings lost love or loneliness to mind. It is autumn that brings a bittersweet melancholy to the fore. The colours and romance of autumn co-exist with an inescapable feeling of something slowly dying…the end of balmy summer days with winter looming ahead.”
“There are songs about love and loss as well as new life and new hope,” adds Edis. “From the romantic album opener, Short Story, which begins in autumn, through to the rather dramatic November scene of a windswept Soho in Umbrellas In The Rain, weather is a common lyrical theme running through these songs, but they are about so much more than they initially appear to be.”
Born in Durham and raised on a musical diet of Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin, Jo Harrop moved to London and quickly established herself as one of the most unmistakable voices in British jazz. Having signed to London-based jazz label, Lateralize Records, she released Weathering The Storm, her debut with guitarist, Jamie McCredie, and The Heart Wants, which has received rave reviews everywhere from The Times to The Guardian, been played extensively on BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 and Jazz FM and is currently riding high in the US Jazz Album Charts.
Following a string of rapturously received tour dates which included two sold out shows at Ronnie Scott’s, Harrop believes she is now coming into her own both as a singer and as a songwriter.
A perfect blend of originals and timeless perennials framed by Paul Edis’ elegant arrangements, When Winter Turns To Spring finds Jo Harrop at the peak of her powers, her beautifully understated smoky voice delicately poised between beguiling sensuality and exquisite fragility.
Track Listing:
1. Short Story 02:50
2. Umbrellas In The Rain 03:45
3. A Perfect Winter’s Day 03:29
4. Winter Love Affair (One Day Soon) 05:03
5. A Child Is Born 03:05
6. New Year, New You 03:09
7. Breathing 04:37
8. In The Bleak Midwinter 05:13
9. Only Spring Will Decide 03:00
10. When Winter Turns To Spring 03:46
11. Spring Put The Swing In My Step 03:40
Personnel:
Jo Harrop: vocals (except track 8)
Paul Edis: piano
Adam King: bass (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11)
Peter Adam Hill: drums (1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11)
Emma Rawicz: soprano saxophone (1, 3), flute (3, 9), clarinet (3, 9), bass clarinet (3), tenor saxophone (10, 11)
Jamie McCredie: guitar (1, 8, 11)
Debs White: violin & fixer (3, 4, 7, 10)
Reiad Chibah: viola (3, 4, 7, 10)
Will Hillman: viola (3, 4, 7, 10)
Julia Graham: cello (3, 4, 10)
Freddie Gavita: flugel horn (3, 9), trumpet (10, 11)
Rory Ingham: trombone (3, 11)
Bryony James: cello (7)
Recorded at Gorilla Studios, Chelsea, London
Produced, Anfineered and Mixed by Jamie McCredie
Mastered by Eddie Stevens/RMS
Photos by Maria Kjartans Artwork: Tom McCormick
Review:
Although Jo Harrop had previously released albums such as Songs for the Late Hours (Lateralize, 2019) and Weathering the Storm (Lateralize, 2020), the release of The Heart Waits (Lateralize, 2021) was a quantum leap forward for the Durham-born vocalist, not least because the album included fewer covers and far more original material than before. Harrop has said of that breakthrough album, “I sent my first lyrics to [pianist] Paul Edis and we wrote “If I Knew,” which became the key that unlocked the door to creating this album.” In fact, of the album’s twelve tracks Harrop was credited with eight of them, and Edis with three, two jointly with Harrop. So, it is no surprise that Harrop and Edis are jointly credited on When Winter Turns to Spring and that all but two of its eleven tracks are credited to one or both of them.
As with her past albums, When Winter Turns to Spring is not a haphazard collection of songs, but has a theme running through it. Just as Weathering the Storm dealt with pathos and pain, while The Heart Wants focussed on love and life, losing and then finding oneself, so When Winter Turns to Spring is a reflective journey through the seasons; on this theme, the album’s only two tracks not penned by Harrop or Edis are “When a Child is Born” by Thad Jones & Alex Wilder, and an Edis arrangement of Gustav Mahler’s “In the Bleak Midwinter” played on piano and guitar with no vocals.
Whatever the subject matter, Harrop’s voice is always versatile enough to eloquently convey a range of moods and emotions; she always makes this sound effortless and natural. Throughout the album, in addition to his roles as composer and arranger, Edis is ever present as accompanist or soloist, fully justifying his joint billing with Harrop. Where The Heart Waits featured a plethora of guest musicians, including the likes of Christian McBride, Jason Rebello and Troy Miller, this album needs no visitors as the accompaniment perfectly complements and showcases Harrop’s voice throughout. Altogether, this album is another step on Harrop’s route to superstardom.
John Eyles (All About Jazz)
