★★★★★
Jo Harman really deserves to be better known. She is a great soul singer with an understated but powerful presence and always seems to have great musicians around her. Add in a perfect sound mix and one of my favourite venues and one might run out of superlatives.
Both sets began with piano and voice.
Mark Edwards is a local jazz player, here switching to blues and gospel style piano with effortless conviction.
Harman’s exquisite cover of I Can’t Stand The Rain, with piano and upright bass, led into a mix of covers and originals from the full band including Dylan’s Forever Young and Harman’s Sweet man Moses and Lend Me Your Love.
After spine-tingling versions of Father and Son (Cat Stevens) and I Can Let Go Now (Michael McDonald), the second set moved up a gear into a more rocky style, with space for the guitarist to emerge from the shadows and produce some great solos.
This was a fabulous evening, though perhaps the audience felt slightly constrained by being seated in rows.
Nevertheless, a respectful hush quickly developed into shouts of approval at the end of the show, and encores followed.
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