Tina Harrod – Worksongs

Worksongs – Tina Harrod

By Chris Peken

On the casting couch for blues, jazz and soul diva’s Tina Harrod sits comfortably between Nina Simone and Billie Holliday (and with Nina’s reputation that’s a spot that would make most a little uneasy). That Tina’s latest album Worksongs tackles at least three tunes Nina made her own should make her squirm further. Yet Ms Harrod is unfazed and unmoved; and rightly so. Along with the top notch trio of pianist Matt McMahon, bass player Jonathan Zwartz and drummer Hamish Stuart, Tina creates sounds that just grow organically out of the earth, as natural as any mountain range, sweeping plain or undulating valley. Tackling the jazz standard Round Midnight with ease, the more up-tempo CC Rider an obvious choice for Harrod and I Shall Be Released reaffirming her love of Nina’s work. Nick Drake’s River Man becomes a wonderfully flowing jazz piece handled by the band with unbelievable ease and delicacy. As the album closes with Don’t Explain and its hard not to see Tina singing: ‘Hush now, don’t explain / Don’t you know, you’re my joy and you’re my pain’ to her late partner, the incomparably Jackie Orszaczky. No explanation required here, Worksongs is entirely self-explanatory.

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