Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ian Shaw was born June 2, 1962 in St. Asaph, Wales and received his music degree from the University of London. He began his professional career singing in the 1980s on the Alternative Cabaret Circuit, while playing in piano bars and at festivals in London and throughout Europe.
In 1990 he began touring Europe and recording with fellow singer Carol Grimes, ultimately collaborating with Claire Martin, Linda Lewis, Liane Carroll and Sarah Jane Morris. By mid-decade he was a regular performing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and two albums on the club’s Jazzhouse label – Ghosthouse and a Rodgers & Hart tribute Taking It To Hart.
In 1996, Shaw led his own “Very Big Band” on a UK tour and by the late 90s he was performing regularly in USA. In 1999 he released In A New York Minute the first of two albums on the Milestone label, followed by Soho Stories in 2001. He has worked with Cedar Walton, Lew Soloff and Eric Alexander. His next release in 2003, A World Still Turning saw him working with Billy Childs, Peter Washington and Mark Murphy.
Ian continues to work regularly with Claire Martin, co-hosting the 2004 BBC Jazz Awards and appearing on the BBC’s Big Band Special. He won in the Best Jazz Vocalist category at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2004 and 2007. He has cut three more albums – Drawn To All Things, Lifejacket and Somewhere Towards Love. In 2011 Splashpoint Records released The Abbey Road Sessions where Shaw backed by a band. Shaw continues to perform regularly at festivals and jazz clubs in the UK and around the world, has delved into film acting and mounting a one-man show.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pha Terell was born Elmer Terrell on May 25, 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri. He began singing in local nightclubs in the early 1930s as a singer, dancer, and emcee. Discovered by Andy Kirk, he was hired as the vocalist for his group the Twelve Clouds of Joy. Terrell sang with Kirk for eight years, from 1933 to 1941, and recorded with him extensively for Decca Records. One of the biggest hits was 1936’s “Until the Real Thing Comes Along”.
After 1941 Terrell moved to Indianapolis to play with Clarence Love’s territory band, then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a soloist. Jazz singer Pha Terrell passed away of kidney failure on October 14, 1945 in Los Angeles at age 35.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jane Stuart was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on May 8th and started her singing career at age 5, on a local TV show, “Moser Starlites”. As a child she studied ballet, acting and singing that led her to study at Quintano’s School For Young Professionals and later study dance at Charlie Lowe’s School of Tap and Personality. Some of her classmates would be Bernadette Peters, Gregory Hines, Bonnie Bedelia, Patty Duke, Christopher Walken, Jeff Conaway and Alan Paul of the Manhattan Transfer.
She attributes her tap dancing skills to be the start of her understanding of jazz. Stuart would go on to play several Off-Broadway theatres, perform as part of the Jazz Mobile with Woody Shaw, Hal Vick and Freddie Waites among others. She has performed solo and background for national commercials and jingles, and was awarded the Blue Chip Award for Best Jazz Vocals by the International Association Of Jazz Educators.
Vocalist Jane Stuart has performed around the world and has worked with Thad Jones, Roland Hanna, Jon Faddis, George Mraz, Mel Lewis, Charlie Smalls, Vic Juris, to name a few, as well as a host of actors. In addition, she continues to stay busy teaching vocal technique and performance in the New Jersey area, as a member of “Reflections”, a 19-piece jazz/swing orchestra, singing and playing percussion with The Arthur Miller Band and leading her 7 piece band “Airtight”.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Monica Mancini was born on May 4, 1952 in Los Angeles, California to film composer Henry Mancini. She began her singing career at fourteen as a member of the Henry Mancini chorus, which later led to a successful career in the Los Angeles studios.
Monica is a Concord Record recording artist and two-time Grammy award nominee, who has carved out an impressive career as a singer performing on club and concert stages, and with major symphony orchestras worldwide.
She has appeared on countless film scores, and recorded with artists including Placido Domingo, Horace Silver, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson Stevie Wonder, Kenny Rankin and Plas Johnson among others. She has recorded four albums, fronted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and sung Senza Fine on the soundtrack for the 2002 film Ghost Ship. She continues to perform and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Shirley Valerie Horn was born on May 1, 1934 in Washington, D.C. and was encouraged by her grandmother to begin piano lessons at age four. At twelve she studied piano and composition at Howard University and later majored there in classical music. Unable to afford to attend, Shirley was forced to decline an offered a place at the Juilliard School. Forming her first jazz piano trio when she was twenty, her early piano influences were Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal that moved away from her classical background.
She then became enamored with the famous U Street jazz area of Washington, sneaking into jazz clubs before she was of legal age. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, the rich, lush, smoky contralto gave an unprecedented expression to every song she sang. Although she could swing as strongly as any straight-ahead jazz artist, Horn’s reputation rode on her exquisite ballad work.
She recorded with Stuff Smith in 1959, and on small labels into the Sixties. Horn first achieved fame in 1960, when Miles Davis discovered her and his public praise was a rare commodity. She eventually landed on Mercury and Impulse and over the course of her career she recorded some four-dozen albums both as leader and sideman.
Following the arrival of the Beatles, Horn scaled down performances to her native D.C. clubs, raised her daughter and worked full time in an office. Recording sporadically from 1965 through the late 80s, by the early Nineties her resurgence came with “Here’s To Life” and the albums began to flow, nearly one a year until 2003.
The small setting performer, singer and pianist Shirley Horn kept her same trio for twenty-five years. In the early 200s due to health issues she cut back her schedule, and battling diabetes and breast cancer passed away on October 20, 2005. She was nominated for a Grammy 9 times and won for “I Remember Miles”, performed for several White House invites, received an honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music and was given a NEA Jazz Master Award.