Hexham Jazz Festival: Day 2 (Saturday 14, evening)

(© Malcolm Sinclair)

For some this was the pick of the 2022 Hexham Jazz Festival - Jo Harrop with her ace band plus strings, followed by a solo piano set by Dean Stockdale. The same set-up as on the opening evening, Harrop and co occupying centre ground (the 'crossing') looking down the nave past the cordoned-off crypt with the audience occupying the nave's pews and seated around tables in the north and south transepts. Forty eight hours earlier Harrop and her quartet were at Newcastle's temple to all things funk, soul and jazz, namely Hoochie Coochie, this evening it was the rather splendid setting of Hexham Abbey. 

(© Malcolm Sinclair)

Jo Harrop (vocals); Paul Edis (MD, piano); James Kitchman (guitar); Jihad Darwish (double bass); Steve Hanley (drums) & Northumbria String Quartet

The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants, Harrop's British tour signature tune (co-written with Hannah Vasanth), opened the first of two sets. Sitting front and centre in the pews the sound was better than expected (the previous evening seated in the north transept the sound wasn't so good), all instruments finely balanced, MD Edis conducting matters form the Abbey's Yamaha grand piano. At the aforementioned Hoochie Coochie performance an acquaintance said Harrop is incapable of singing a bum note. And as if to prove the point, here in Hexham our London-exiled northerner did it again, being absolutely note-perfect.

(© Malcolm Sinclair)

Everything's Changing introduced the strings - the Northumbria String Quartet (John Garner was in the section) - and if there was one minor quibble, it would be they were, at times, somewhat inaudible against the amplified strings of local hero, guitarist James Kitchman and the brilliant bassist Jihad Darwish. At short notice drummer Steve Hanley was recruited to play the first three dates of the tour (Newcastle, Hexham and the Jazz Bar, Edinburgh this evening, Sunday) and what a great job he's making of it, quickly learning the charts and making an invaluable contribution to the set. What a pro!

James Kitchman has come a long way since sitting-in at Dave Weisser's Take it to the Bridge sessions: the shy teenager, then known, by Dave, only as 'Felix', has matured into a marvellous, gigging musician on the London scene and beyond. Here in Hexham Abbey he cut a relaxed figure, seated, a bluesy edge to his playing, his duet with Harrop on I Think You'd Better Go (hints of Sam Cooke, perhaps Smokey Robinson) simply marvellous! 

(© Malcolm Sinclair)

Edis' Whiskers recalled his days as MD of Jambone (Sage Gateshead's youth jazz ensemble, later in the set we would hear Edis' Wise Words), this evening revealing a striking (intentional?) tip-of-the-hat similarity to Oscar Peterson. Here in Hexham Jo Harrop produced many memorable moments, none finer than her duet with Jihad Darwish on All Too Soon. Simply magnificent ...

If I Knew showcased piano and strings - composition, arrangement and performance all top drawer. Harrop and Edis revisited You Taught My Heart to Sing (from Songs for the Late Hours). And then there were the swingers...Red Mary Janes & a Brand New Hat and What a Little Moonlight Can Do. Wow! What a band!

            

It was almost time to go, but not before Jo Harrop confided, considering the venue, she thought twice about singing Randy Newman's Guilty. Our superstar went for it: Whisky...wine...cocaine...and, as the band swung out, Harrop, without missing a beat, told us: I told you it was bad! To top it off, Harrop, trying to dig herself out of a hole, added: Sorry, God!      

Set list: The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants; Everything's Changing; Charade; What If; Dangerous Love; Hold On; I Think You'd Better Go; Rome Wasn't Built in a Day; Whiskers; All To Soon; Red Mary Janes and a Brand New Hat; If I Knew; Wise Words; Rainbow Sleeves; What a Little Moonlight Can Do; You Taught My Heart to Sing; Weather the Storm; Guilty

Dean Stockdale (piano) 

An hour or so of Dean Stockdale playing piano seemed like an enticing prospect. A fine pianist with a fine piano at his disposal, what more could one ask? Following on from Jo Harrop's superb concert, a late evening start (ten o'clock) was asking a lot of the audience, after all, it had been a long day. In the event, perhaps the scheduling wasn't quite right.

The affable Stockdale is as good as anyone in interpreting GASbook standards, however, late evening buses and trains wait for no one, the result being your correspondent (and others) caught but three numbers of Stockdale's set: Have You Met Miss Jones?, My Romance and They Can't Take That Away from Me. And that was it, off into the moonlit night. 

There is a further forthcoming opportunity to hear Dean Stockdale in concert. Our County Durham based pianist will be appearing at Newcastle's Lit & Phil on Friday July 15, one o'clock start. Russell