Jo Lawry is an ultra talented vocalist and songwriter who is best known for her work with Sting and Paul Simon. When I first started working with her in 2011, her music was much more jazz based, and it involved lots of improvising (check out her first album, "i want to be happy" to get an idea.) Jo is fearless and has tons of technique, and she has great ears too. More recently she has been exploring songwriting, and her new album, “Taking Pictures,” showcases ten of Jo’s original songs. The songs are all very strong and the music still taps into a jazz aesthetic, but it goes in much more of a “pop” direction. The core rhythm section of Matt Aronoff, Dan Rieser, and I had a blast coming up with our parts together. Dave Kowalski masterfully recorded the main tracks over four days at the Bunker Studio in Brooklyn. Jo and Will Vinson produced the album and added all kinds of amazing sounds afterwards. The album features some fantastic trumpet playing from Nadje Noordhuis and a beautiful duet with Jo and Sting!