All That Jazz (And Occasional Comedy) With Ian Shaw
Published
Twice winner of the Best Jazz Vocalist title, Ian Shaw brought his witty segues to that central Soho environment that suits them best; Ronnie Scott’s.
The legendary live venue is celebrating its fiftieth year at its Frith Street location, with some of the world’s best jazz musicians having taken to the stage over the last half century.
Not that Ian Shaw kept his performance solely to the stage during his Late Show. The charismatic frontman took time to deliver his own “Titanic moment” leaning over a stairwell, before wandering throughout the audience as he performed the Fran Lendesman penned ‘Small Day Tomorrow’.
Shaw’s hour long set played host to a variety of tracks from his twenty-five year recording career, with his astonishing vocals bringing fresh life to numbers by Joni Mitchell and Bill Withers. Whether he was performing through bebop or RnB influences, Shaw’s creativity and imagination were rife throughout the performance.
It wasn’t just through singing that Shaw entertained the audience, as his years of touring cabaret circuits in the early 90s with Julian Clary and Jo Brand came to the fore with some hilarious interludes, offering fracture to his blended set of original and borrowed material. Be it discussing his early sexual experiences with women, or sarcastically celebrating the history of Welsh jazz musicians (“we have them all, Bethan Holiday and Efa Fitzgerald”), the laughter was as loud as the applause following songs.
A renowned pianist, Shaw kept his hands from the ivories for the evening, instead leaving the musicianship to his immaculate backing band whom wouldn’t be out of place performing in Ronnie Scott’s renowned house ensemble during the Late, Late Show.
Shaw’s warmth and openness enabled him to make an already cosy environment feel incredibly intimate. Just what you want with an evening at a jazz café.
Featured image courtesy of In Daily.
http://www.ianshaw.biz/
