Award-winning jazz vocalists Ian Shaw and Claire Martin entertained an appreciative Turner Sims audience on the opening night of their UK Christmas mini-tour.
Opening with I Only Have Eyes For You, Shaw and Martin cement their jazz vocal credentials; but without any accompanying musicians – some numbers yearning for bass, drums, and sax – the sound feels empty.
Reflecting on the many 2016 deaths of great entertainers, Shaw delivered a thin jazzy version of Leonard Cohen’s compelling classic Dance Me To The End Of Love.
An effective segment of traditional Christmas numbers includes Walking In A Winter Wonderland, Santa Baby, and an audience sing-along on Let It Snow.
Ian Shaw’s wonderful original song My Brother is hooky and profoundly meaningful ... but hardly festive.
Therein lies the problem with this show ... whereas Claire Martin, wearing a red Santa hat, performs with professional panache, Ian Shaw – grudgingly donning a black Santa hat – refers to Father Christmas as “ that fat b******”.
Impishly using various inappropriate unprofessional obscenities in his patter, Shaw gives the impression that a Christmas show is beneath his jazz credentials.
The neat climax is Greg (another recent rock casualty) Lake’s prophetic thought-provoking 1975 pop hit I Believe In Father Christmas and Claire Martin’s plaintive version of jazz standard Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Compared to the recent Turner Sims beautiful Cara Dillon concert Upon A Winter’s Night, this “Christmas Cracker” lacks snap.
Brendan McCusker
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