Jo Harrop (vocals); Jamie McCredie
(guitar)
(Review by
Russell)
Lumiere, Durham's spectacular
lightshow festival, attracts thousands upon thousands of visitors but on Friday
evening numbers were down ever so slightly as some preferred to spend their
evening in an arched, brick-lined cellar on Crossgate. The big attraction at
Holy GrAle was an intimate duo gig featuring two north easterners who base
themselves in London but were 'up north' for a couple of days to play two gigs,
one in Newcastle and this engagement in Durham City.
Hours earlier Jo Harrop and Jamie
McCredie entertained a lunchtime full house at the Lit & Phil, here in
Durham a select audience gathered for an eagerly anticipated performance of
GASbook standards. 'S Wonderful sang Jo Harrop - how
appropriate, this was absolutely wonderful! Holy GrAle's performance space is
so small all present get an up close, front row experience. All evening there
wasn't a lyric sheet in sight as Harrop chose a favourite tune, then another,
her musicial partner Jamie McCredie supremely relaxed with the evolving set
list. No Moon at All, Ellington's I've Got it Bad and That
Ain't Good, Corcovado, Harold Arlen's As Long as I Live,
a heart-rending I'm a Fool to Want You and from Harrop's Songs
for the Late Hours, Vincent Youmans' More Than You Know. Harrop
and McCredie's interpretations of timeless material were a joy to listen to.
Second set, more of the same - superb
singing, the influences - Anita, Billie, Ella, Sarah - in the air, jazz guitar
accompaniment of the highest order with impossibly fleet-fingered solos, it
doesn't matter where you went - Ronnie's, the Village Vanguard - you wouldn't
hear anything better than this. Love Me or Leave Me (up-tempo,
the business!), Tom Waits' Temptation, Richard Rodgers' This
Can't Be Love, a blues - Randy Newman's Guilty, if only Harrop
and McCredie could've played all night!
What a Little Moonlight Can Do (one of the
few numbers reprised from the Newcastle performance), Fine and Mellow,
it had been a memorable evening and, to close, Ms Harrop made the observation
that they'd finish with the first number of their day. At one 'clock on
Tyneside Burton Lane and Yip Harburg kick-started their Friday away day and so
Harrop and McCredie said goodnight with That Old Devil Moon.
Russell
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