Mark Harrison

The Harrison

I discovered the delight that is The Harrison for the first time on Wednesday but it will not be the last time I find myself in the tiny downstair club for an evening of unplugged folkism.

I was there to see a gentleman called Mark Harrison - a Blues singer and guitarist who plays with a bewildering number of possible sidemen (and women) under the title of ‘Mark Harrison’. On this occasion he was joined by Will Greener on harmonicas, one of the capital’s finest, alone.
He was debuting tracks from his new album – reviewed on this site – and the crowd was treated to nine or ten moments of understated joy. Harrison’s guitar playing has a soft and really tuneful tone and I can’t help but think of the Blues and Folk pickers of the 30’s whenever I hear him. 

Harrison opened with ‘Georgia Greene’ from the new album with his 1934 National Resonator sounding jaunty and perfectly pitched against Greener’s harmonica and Harrison’s soft sung vocals.
‘Bombs Coming Down’ was prefaced with a little tale of the bombing of Coventry and the fact that all the engineering had been moved out well before the city was bombed into rubble. He has a gentle humour in the way he speaks and the crowd and they warmed to his playing as well as his songs.

The whole set was a capsule of quality playing from both musicians and the crowd was leaning in closer and closer as the intimacy of the performance drew them in; when they finished the set on ‘Easy Does It’ there was a genuine feeling of loss – the encore of ‘Highgate Hill’ was that rare thing – a genuine additional number (it isn’t on the set list!)

It isn’t often that I go to a gig where the music leaves me without a buzz in my ear and on this occasion the volume was perfectly pitched even without any mikes or amplifiers – it really can be done.