JO HARROP

- Thursday 19th May Matt & Phreds Jazz Club, Manchester

Ahead of her 19th May performance in Manchester for her highly anticipated ‘The Heart Wants’ tour, jazz singer Jo Harrop talks her early inspirations, famous fans, and how lockdown grief informed one of the most important contemporary British jazz albums.

“I had no idea what I was doing, I just wanted to sing,” says Jo Harrop, reflecting on her spontaneous decision to leave Durham at 18-years-old to pursue her dreams of becoming a jazz singer in London. It was this spur-of-themoment action that would be the catalyst for the impressive career that followed, as she now embarks on a solo tour for her acclaimed 2021 album ‘The Heart Wants’.

Though Jo is widely regarded as one of the key voices in contemporary British jazz, it wasn’t an overnight success, but rather a product of years of work as a backing singer, just to be in the vicinity of music. “I moved to London on a wing and a prayer, answering all kinds of adverts for singers, backing singers and tried to meet other musicians and song-write too. I was chasing a dream and had heard that London was the place to be - I never looked back really,” she says.

“It was a great time, we had lots of fun,” Jo says, reflecting on the experience that saw her work with a slew of iconic artists like Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart and Gloria Gaynor. “But I don’t think that I was a very good backing singer and definitely prefer doing my own thing - I have great respect for backing singers though, it’s a whole different skill and requires discipline. Jazz is more about improvising and trying to find your own unique sound and way of interpreting songs.”

It was this deep infatuation with jazz, sparked by the sounds of Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett echoing around her childhood home, that drew her to London’s music scene in the first place. Her pool of influences continued to grow throughout her adolescence, as she favoured classic jazz to the chart music of her teens.

“My Dad, who was a jazz lover, introduced me to Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Anita O’Day and instrumental jazz like Miles Davis and Count Basie. They took me to see Tony Bennett live in Newcastle as a teenager and I was totally blown away,” Jo remembers.

These early exposures to jazz legends greatly informed her writing today. Her 2021 album ‘The Heart Wants’ translated the woes of locked-down life into a record that would be revered by jazz fans and critics alike. Jo Whiley and Iggy Pop even sit among her admirers, with the latter calling her a “very fine jazz singer”.

“Honestly, I still sometimes can’t quite believe it,” says Jo, considering the flurry of new critical acclaim. “I feel blessed to sing, write songs, and perform, for a living. I love what I do and I can’t live without music in my life. I’ve wanted to sing and perform all my life, and reach people in the way that I was by so many wonderful artists.

“The fact that l’ve moved people with my songs, is all I could hope for. I absolutely love playing to an audience who appreciate the music and the musicians that I have in my band.”

Existing as a spellbinding and cathartic release, ‘The Heart Wants’ was a pivotal moment in Jo’s career that saw her truly delve into song writing and marking her first album of original material, following her 2020 debut ‘Weathering The Storm’.

“The Heart Wants What The Heart Wants, was born from a conversation with my best friend and producer, Hannah V, over a few wines,” Jo explains. “I think that the theme running throughout is all that the human heart goes through - what we all feel and desire at some point in time.”

“A lot of personal experiences mix into the storytelling, but I also wanted to reflect the times that we were living in to try to reach out to people who needed to hear something that meant something to them.”

For a singer accustomed to live performances, lockdown was a period of reflection for Jo, something evident in the record: “Love is obviously a huge topic, but writing during a global pandemic was very important to me. People were suffering for all kinds of reasons, I felt fear and uncertainty around me.”

This uncertainty is channelled into ‘Everything’s Changing’, a deeply cathartic, bluesy piano ballad that Jo says “wrote itself”, following months spent enduring global turmoil. It sees Jo yearn for better days during an era of collective suffering. And, it turns out, a song written from her own isolation would resonate: “People from around the world got in touch with me to say how much they needed to hear this song, the message is that we all go through bad times, reach out - you’re not alone,” she says.

The rest of the album carries similar themes, with opener ‘If I Knew’ exploring loss and regret. “It’s a story that had needed to be told,” Jo admits. “They’re feelings I’d locked away for quite a few years, and so it unlocked a door to being able to pour out feelings about lost loved ones, relationships, desires and temptation.

“Even the quirky song, ‘Red Mary Janes And A Brand New Hat’ was about missing being out singing, during the lockdowns, and talking about feeling your best & making the most out of life. I try to choose songs that mean something to me, that I can relate to. It’s the same when I write - I can’t sing about something that doesn’t have some truth and genuine feeling in it.”

Now, as she embarks on ‘The Heart Wants Tour’, the collection of songs born from isolation will finally be performed in front of a live audience. But for Jo, the success lies in the audience’s response: “Hopefully people will find their own story within the songs and find it cathartic too.”

Tickets are available here: www.joharrop.com/shows