Search - Ian Shaw, Cedar Walton :: In a New York Minute

Ian 's magic

Roberto Ballati | Moscow, Russian Federation | 06/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As usual, this enormously underrated singer delivered a great album. There's magic in Mr. Shaw voice, a combination of soul, blues, gospel roots mixed with an extraordinary jazz sensibility that gives me the chill: pick just any of his cd, you'll be surprised how a brit white singer can be so undoubtely, deeply black in his musical approach. A pity there's no trace on line of one of his first efforts, the beautiful acoustic "Lazy blue eyes", where he sings with Catol Grimes: his rendition of "In a sentimental mood" is gorgeous and that it's not an easy song to perform, particularly by a male singer. In this latest cd with the great Cedar Walton on piano Ian steals the show with an intense "Standing in the dark", a sublime "Alfie", a vibrant "No one ever tells you" and a NancyWilsonish "I thought about you". On my opinion, the masterpiece here is the tender "Wouldn't it be lovely", to listen to while sitting in your car , waiting on a queue in a rainy day.... Keep on doing it Ian, you know what's singing is about!"

Brilliant In Every Respect

Thomas J. Cunniff | New York, NY USA | 12/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bravo to whoever decided to pair Ian Shaw and Cedar Walton.Everything on this CD -- from the choice of songs, the players, the interpretations, the overall vibe -- is purely magical.Singers like Ian Shaw represent the future of jazz if we can only allow ourselves to embrace it.He respects tradition, but doesn't pander. He sings standards as they should be sung -- as vibrant new material, not shopworn standbys. He's also able to hear the jazz in Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach, and Bill Withers. In a live setting, he's a great performer. I caught him one rainy night in Greenwich Village at Fez. I'd never heard of him before, and only went because the New York Times suggested it.He was completely captivating with only a pianist as his accompaniment.Pick up this CD, and pick up the rest of Ian's work -- especially Soho Stories. You'll fall in love in a New York Minute."

Jazz prowess wrapped in an English accent

Ennis Smith | New York, NY USA | 10/03/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For listeners enamored of classic jazz collaborations between pianists and vocalists--Cassandra Wilson/Jacky Terrasson's Rendezvous and Janis Siegel/Fred Hersch's Shortstories come to mind--here's a worthy addition to the canon, courtesy of the UK singer Ian Shaw and the American virtuoso Cedar Walton. Be warned though: the album's a bit of a cheat. Shaw and Walton are the frontmen, but they aren't the only musicians on this 1998 effort; the sparse, laid-back arrangements are occasionally sweetened by David William's bass and the agile saxophonist Iain Ballamy.

Mr. Walton is a sensitive accompanist (the pairing pays off especially in the dynamic opener and the honky-tonkish Standing in the Dark) but this is Mr. Shaw's show. Listening to the scat figures in the title cut, it's tempting to compare him to Mel Torme (both have that same fuzzy tenor sound) but Shaw is very much his own vocalist--one only has to absorb the stream-of-conscious syncopations of Joni Mitchell's Furry Sings the Blues or the soul-shouted precision of Grandma's Hands to hear uncommon versatility wrapped in musical ideas at once primal and modern.

The CD's two standouts are songs so familiar they'd risk becoming glaring folly in lesser hands. But Shaw makes Wouldn't It Be Loverly (from the musical My Fair Lady) a wistful, almost Dickensian plea of a man who's come to recognize, and covet the simpler solaces of life. Equally heartbreaking is his take on Burt Bachrach's Alfie, a song from which Shaw wrings every yearning drop of self-questioning. These renditions reveal a vocalist blessed with elegant restraint, and an actor unafraid to lay his emotions bare. In a New York Minute is everything you'd hope for in a jazz album, but Mr. Shaw's gifts transcend genre labels. However he's pegged one thing's clear--this is a singer for all seasons.

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