Jo Lawry Live At The Spiegeltent @ The Garden Of Unearthly Delights – Adelaide Fringe Review

The Garden Of Unearthly Delights - Magic Mirror Spiegeltent, Sat 18 Feb. Jo Lawry has been recording and touring with Sting since 2009, but her return visits to her hometown are as a star in her own right. Most of her material has elements from the world of jazz, but there is a sprinkling of blues, rock, pop, folk, and even country that demonstrates a vocal range that crosses into any genre with ease. The one hour set consisted entirely of her own songs – some co-written with her husband, Will Vinson, who also plays electric piano and sax. Love and relationships are the home territory for Lawry’s writing, but they are far from simple love songs. Melodies were frequently complex and occasionally drifted into scat territory with sax and vocal parts mimicking each other in the same way that singer and tabla dance together in Indian classical music. Songs featuring Lawry on acoustic guitar tended to feature more conventional melodies and were in stark contrast to the more jazz influenced numbers where voice and instruments seem to be more about interpreting a mood rather than following through a recognisable melodic theme. Only on Please Don’t Think I Didn’t Love You did Lawry deliver long resonant notes that hinted at a different kind of vocal power. The folkie in me wanted more of this. Lawry herself says she loves jazz but wants to explore and push the boundaries a little more so we may see her move further into the singer-songwriter realm. Other members of the 4-piece band – Chris Hale on 6-string bass, and Angus Mason on brush percussion provided delicious and subtle background textures. I’d forgotten how beautifully complementary drums played with brushes can be. Jo Lawry delivered a great show that offered a wide variety of musical styles, and a fine vocal talent that was a treat to sit back and savour. 4 stars Michael Coghlan