Acrobats (released February 10, 2023)

Jo’s latest release on Whirlwind Recordings features acclaimed, GRAMMY-winning bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Allison Miller. Acrobats is a playful album embodying both the freedom and exquisite complexity of jazz. The genesis for the project came about by Lawry setting herself a challenge: “I thought, what is the hardest thing I could do? And the answer was a trio album: voice, bass and drums, where I’m trying to function like a horn player and we’re providing the whole landscape without the benefit of chords.”

The title track ‘Acrobats’ is by Gian Slater, a fellow Australian and a close friend of Lawry’s. “‘Acrobats’ encapsulates the idea of the agility we want to play with and the trust we need to catch and support each other,” Lawry reflects, “This is the most playful and adventurous that I’ve been in the studio, and that’s down to the alchemy of this particular combination of people.” The innate interconnectivity and trust between the members of this trio is palpable, much like a troupe of acrobats, and, as Lawry says, “you need to have people that you know are going to catch you.” Collaboration and agility are at the core of this bold new record from three highly esteemed musicians, led by the visionary Lawry
who presents this unconventional and inspired addition to the vocal jazz canon.

The Bathtub and the Sea

The Bathtub and the Sea follows Jo's celebrated 2008 debut, I Want to Be Happy, which was christened by Downbeat as one of the “best CDs of the 2000s,” and its sterling 2014 follow-up, Taking Pictures. Much as she did in Pictures, Lawry spends The Bathtub and the Sea exploring her gifts as a singer-songwriter, writing or co-writing each of the album’s 11 tracks for a set that often echoes her life while adding a twist or two. The title track, co-written with Doug Wamble, sets the course of the album in its tale of navigating beginnings and endings. The shimmering “Wedding Song” was penned as a wedding-day surprise to her husband, musician and collaborator Will Vinson. The equally lovely “So Far So Good,” is her one-year anniversary present to him. The duet version of “Unlearning” is maybe the record’s centerpiece, in which the ethereal twin voices of Lawry and her longtime boss, Sting, dance around each other. 

Taking Pictures (2015)

Taking Pictures marks not only an evolution from Jo Lawry's previous work, but also a redrawing of how she makes music. Lawry wrote all of the record's 10 tracks (including "Impossible," the sterling duet with Sting), shifting her focus from vocal jazz to a guitar-based singer-songwriter sound.

"[Jo Lawry] steps into the limelight with this assured solo album. Here, the jazz flavours are present but she proves her ability to straddle the genres." - The Sun (U.K.)

"... singer of dazzling self-possession" - New York Times

"[a] restrained, elegant set" 4 stars, Mojo Magazine (U.K.)

I Want to Be Happy (2008)

Jo Lawry's debut album features standards arranged beautifully by Lawry ("I Want to Be Happy"), sparkling original songs ("Small House") and thoughtful re-imaginings of pop songs ("February"). Named by Downbeat magazine as "one of the best CD's of the 2000s".

"Start to finish, the disc demonstrates why Lawry is one of the most impressive vocalists to emerge in some years. Listen as she slyly drops a few licks from “Tico Tico” into a high-flying “I Could Have Danced All Night,” and you’ll know that Lawry will captivate the cognoscenti. But her wide-ranging taste in material is sure to win even more fans; it takes a special artist to redeem the likes of “I Can’t Smile Without You.” - Time Out New York