This is Soul Music

Ryan Shaw’s triumphant JazzFest return

While he may be appearing at Victoria’s JazzFest—for the second year in a row, to boot—Ryan Shaw’s festival schedule is far from restricted to those of the jazzy variety.

“We pretty much do the gamut,” the 28-year-old soul singer from Georgia says. “We play jazz festivals, we play blues festivals and we’re doing one or two rock festivals and a few whatever festivals. We kind of get around. Original R&B;soul music is the basis for what became rock and roll and what became soul. It all came out of that, so it’s the father of modern-day music, so we fit everywhere.”

It’s not just because of soul’s widespread appeal; Shaw has a reputation as being an amazing performer, full of genuine energy and in possession of a stellar voice. While he’ll be performing a mixture of cover tunes and songs off his 2007 debut, This Is Ryan Shaw, at his Friday night performance in Victoria, folks can also expect to hear some new material from Shaw too, as he’s planning to release a new record early next year.

“It’s going to be the reverse of the old album,” he says. “The first album was nine covers and three originals and this album will have very few covers on it—a lot more writing, a lot more of what I would like to say. So it will be more me and people will get to see more of what I’m about and what I like to sing about and write about.”

So, what does Shaw like to write about? “It’s still love, but it’s my words and not someone else’s words,” he says. “I like to talk a lot about what relationships really should be more about, about loving ourselves first and putting ourselves first. I think a lot of times, we look to fill the void or be filled by someone else as opposed to loving ourselves first. Two half people are still not going to make a whole person.”

While some performers wow audiences by packing the stage with instruments, Shaw says he keeps his live performance simple with a three-piece backing band consisting of guitar, drum and bass.

“It’s very stripped down. They all sing background, so I get a really full sound from those guys,” he says. “Every now and then somebody says, ‘Man if you had an organ up there…’ Well buddy, I don’t. Maybe next time. Give it a minute, we’ve got to grow this thing.”

And grow it has. M

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Ryan Shaw
(with the Vic High R&B Band)
7pm Friday, July 3
Centennial Square
Tickets $25
250-386-6121
jazzvictoria.ca