| Tina Harrod |
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Tina Harrod’s stunning second solo album Worksongs proves she is
equally at home channelling the power and emotion of jazz greats like
Nina Simone and Billie Holiday as she is in more familiar soul terrain.
And she does so with such impeccable intuition and raw feeling that it
takes your breath away.
“My love of Nina Simone opened me up to a whole world of possibilities
in music. The thing I love about Nina is that she could take a Bob
Dylan song, change the feel, add a different kind of sophistication by
manipulating a few chords and sing it with such depth without ever
robbing the song of it’s essence,” says Tina.
Tina and her stellar band bring the same approach to the varied
collection of songs on this album – from the excellent jazz spin on
Stevie Wonder’s ‘Big Brother’ to her beautiful rendition of Nick
Drake’s ‘Riverman’ or her sophisticated and revelatory take on
Portishead’s ‘Glory Box’. Two of her own songs from her acclaimed debut
album Shacked up in Paradise are also reinvigorated here as are a
definitive collection of jazz classics such as ‘Comes Love’, ‘Round
Midnight’ and ‘Feelin’ Good’.
The musical pedigree of the trio of musicians featured on the album is
also undeniable. “Jonathan Zwartz plays upright bass and has a big
influence on what we play and how we play it. Hamish Stuart is a
permanent member of my musical family. Matt McMahon is on piano. Some
of his work on the album is achingly delicate and it reminds me of him
as a person - softly spoken with never a bad word to say about
anybody,” says Tina. The fact that she has been performing with this
trio for almost six years meant that they were able to go into the
recording studio and lay the tracks down in one day – an immediacy and
truthfulness that is reflected on the album.
Tina is no stranger to working with Australia’s finest musicians
starting back in the early 90s when she began performing with The
Grandmasters and her subsequent long-standing personal and musical
partnership with the much respected, late Jackie Orszaczky. “Although
Jackie did not play on this album, he encouraged me to do this project,
he supported me and he was there the day we recorded. He will always be
part of my music, “ says Tina.
As soon as she has finished touring with Jimmy Barnes, Tina will be
taking her own band on the road in late July to support the release of
Worksongs including launch shows at The Basement in Sydney and
Bennett’s Lane in Melbourne.
www.myspace.com/tinamharrod
“A dark-hued, womanly voice; assured in pitch and as powerful as a
train when called upon, it also has little chinks of vulnerability, so
one feels wooed by it,” John Shand, SMH
“Harrod deserves supernova status.” Qantas Magazine
TINA HARROD
SYDNEY
Fri 1 Aug, 9.30pm The Basement. $20 Bookings 02 9251 2797
Sat 16 Aug, 8.30pm SIMA @ The Soundlounge, Seymour Centre
Fri 19 Sep, 8.30pm The Vanguard, $20 Newtown
Sat 20 Sep, 8.30pm Brass Monkey $16 / $18 Cronulla
MELBOURNE
Fri 8 & Sat 9 Aug, 8pm Bennetts Lane, Bookings 03 9663 2856
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