At a glance
Where An Adventurous Dream was recorded
“Carbohydrates, fat, sugar,” mused singer Ian Shaw sat on the piano stool of the Steinway house piano as he gazed discerningly at the diners in the audience last night at the Dean Street Pizza down in the restaurant’s basement at this the latest night of the Welshman’s annual January residency.
Back tonight he is joined by saxophonist Tony Kofi. Their album together released on the venue’s PX Records An Adventurous Dream recorded live at this same venue was one of last year’s top UK jazz albums.
Shaw keeps great musical company
Get down if you can for any of the remaining shows. Shaw keeps great musical company and the respectful audience lapped this latest up. Chatting to the audience – the evening had a conversational feel to it – he purred to us how ”polite and sedate” we were – ”we’ll change all that.”
He recalled his eyeliner and records days at King’s College, London and auditioning at Pizza on the Park, the much missed Knightsbridge venue near Hyde Park Corner that Peter Boizot used to own when the jazz loving entrepreneur was still at the helm of Pizza Express.
A single set, Shaw’s amusing parody of ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ was fun. It takes a certain amiably puckish wit to string together in the lyrics such vivid imagery as vermilion, Castilian and pair these with the remarkable sounding handily rhyming Lillian.
Shaw earlier in his career was also a stand up comic and reprised that side of his artistry some years ago in a show called A Bit of a Mouthful which I reviewed at the Vortex, the Dalston jazz club where the singer gigs on New Year’s Eve every year.
‘People Who Go Ta-Dah’
The other strong suit Ian highlight before Dana Masters came on was his co-write with Jamie Safir from Greek Street Friday issued in 2023 ‘People Who Go Ta-Dah!’ inspired if that’s the correct word by the former MP for the Eighteenth Century, one Jacob Rees-Mogg. Nanny wasn’t in attendance.
Dana Masters Ian has sung alongside before when both guested with Guy Barker and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Dublin and at the Jazz Voice gala during the London Jazz Festival.
Masters is best known for her work with Van Morrison – hear her doing wonderful backing vocals with singer-guitarist Sumudu on ‘Transformation’. Last time I heard Dana live with Van was at the PowerHaus (Dingwalls) in Camden in 2020. She also played great tambourine that night I seem to recall.
Of the Masters numbers ‘Little Girl’ (Cynthia’s Song) stood out
The Anita Baker loving American who lives in Northern Ireland has become one of the island of Ireland’s top jazz vocal stars and did not disappoint here with Shaw, very much an ideal duo partner.
The highlight of her contributions was easily Real Good Mood (2024) song ‘Little Girl’ (Cynthia’s Song). She spoke of her grandmother Johnnie Ruth Jenkins, who was a Civil Rights activist in South Carolina.
Other highlights included Dana’s version of ‘Autumn in New York,’ a song that like ‘Little Girl’ figures on her latest album and which Ian responded to by segueing into Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf’s ‘Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most’ so memorably rendered on the wonderful 2012 Shaw album A Ghost in Every Bar.
Covers of David Bowie’s powerful Aladdin Sane (1973) song ‘Lady Grinning Soul’ and Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks classic from 1975 ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go’ also resonated brightly in the context of the set. Shaw’s affinity to both was clear.
A very collaborative performance, the two can complete each other’s sentences musically as if to the manner born.
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