Jo
Harrop (vocals), Neil Harland (bass), Rob Walker (drums) and Paul Edis (piano).
(Review by Jerry)
Jo
Harrop, a great band and a programme listing (among others) Gershwin, Porter,
Legrand and Billie Holiday – what a perfect antidote to the soggy Bonfire Night
I had in Borrowdale! There was a full house (100), with people being turned
away at the door and an expectant hush at 12.59 and into the opening song, Love Me or Leave Me - no noisy diners
here!
Looking
across the river there were still autumn colours to be seen against a slate-blue
sky befitting Autumn in New York. The
line: “Autumn in New York is often mingled with pain”, was not true at the Gala
with Jo Harrop’s vocals to soothe us. There was seasonal consolation later,
too, in Legrand’s You Must Believe in
Spring: “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” Nothing like a bit of
Shelley to adorn already beautiful lyrics!
I’m a Fool to Want You by Herron / Sinatra / Wolf is a tune which does NOT
suffer from being much-covered over the years. Here the backing was stripped
down to minimal - no solos - allowing the audience to focus entirely on the
plaintive Billie Holiday-style delivery. It was “hear a pin drop time” in the
packed room.
Piano
and bass both got to solo on Richard Rodgers’ cheery, up-tempo This Can’t Be Love and then we had more master-class lyrics on Cole Porter’s It’s All Right with Me. Who else coolly rhymes “chips” with “lips” outside of a
limerick?
Bye Bye Blackbird opened with just vocals and bass and, sung in the
manner of Julie London, achieved another “pin-drop” silence until it became Bye Bye Blackbird (Hello Durham Constabulary)
as Jo had to contend with sirens full blast on Milburngate Bridge! Nowhere’s
perfect…
Rob
Walker’s drumming came more to the fore on Gershwin’s lovely The Man I Love. Maybe that should be Gershwins’ as Ira’s lyrics contribute much to the enduring appeal of
the tune. Tuesday, there, might be “good news day” but we were all doing nicely
on Friday, thank you! I Can’t Give You
Anything but Love saw Jo at her most winsome and some trading fours
generated more fizz and pop than our sparklers last night.
Then
more Cole Porter with an up-tempo Just
One of those Things which featured more great lyrics, though apparently it
was a friend of Porter’s who suggested the adjective in “gossamer wings”. No one’s perfect?
The
official last number was my idea of
perfect – how could they top it? Great blues piano (with piano “answering” the
vocals), great bass solo and great blues singing on Billie Holiday’s Fine and Mellow…….which they then topped
with their encore: I Wish I Knew How it
Would Feel to Be Free! I have loved this song since I first heard Jo Harrop
perform it about 5 years ago and it took on added poignancy having watched, two
days ago, a DVD of Twelve Years a Slave
in which I found the brutality portrayed truly shocking. Anyway, the audience
clearly loved it too.
Never
mind soggy Bonfire Night – this was Christmas come early!
Jerry
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