Kathie "Claire" Shaw

Vocals


Claire got hooked on jazz as a teenager when she first heard recordings of vocalist Helen Ward with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Her interest soon grew to include the jazz masters, and especially vocal greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Merrill, Tony Bennett, and the Brazilian singer Flora Purim. Endless hours of listening gave her an understanding of the jazz vocal tradition, and the inspiration to become a singer. When she decided to pursue singing seriously in 1983 she moved to Toronto and studied with the late Gloria Ferrer. She returned to Halifax and began working with Skip Beckwith and other Canadian jazz greats such as Ed Bickert, Fraser MacPherson, and Peter Appleyard. Claire has performed at many of the Jazz Festivals across Canada and has been heard on CBC Radio's "Morningside" and "JazzBeat". Although her vocal style is sometimes compared to that of Julie London, Claire's sound is truly her own: warm, intimate, and sophisticated.






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Skip Beckwith

Acoustic Bass, Piano; Producer, Arranger, Composer, Educator

Skip has had an extremely rich and diverse background in all aspects of the music industry over his 40 year career. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and Oscar Peterson's Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto, where he studied with the legendary bassist Ray Brown. He went on to work with a long list of jazz luminaries, among them Sonny Stitt, Joe Williams, Mose Allison, Chick Corea, Milt Jackson, and Gary Burton. In 1969 he began a six-year stint as Musical Director, Band Leader and bassist for Anne Murray, and was a big part of the production team on twelve albums, including Juno and Grammy award winners. The Anne Murray show toured, recorded, and was featured on all major television networks throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe with guests Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers. He has also worked closely with Joe Sealy, Lenny Breau, George Hamilton IV, the Irish Rovers, John Allan Cameron, Dutch Mason and numerous singer/songwriters as producer, arranger and bassist. During his career as a studio musician he wrote and played countless jingles and soundtracks. Composition credits include the music for the film "Slipstream". Skip was heavily involved in the East Coast music scene for many years as band leader, music director and bassist on numerous TV and radio shows & series (Celtic, Folk, Country, etc.). He conducts clinics and workshops across the country, and performs regularly with jazz pianist Oliver Jones. In 1987 he became Artist-in- Residence at St. Francis Xavier University Department of Music (Jazz Studies). Skip teaches acoustic and electric bass, jazz theory, jazz history, improvisation, and keyboard.    top        More about Skip

Paul

Nylon-string guitar, Acoustic Bass, Vocals; Arranger/Composer; Educator


Paul began his musical career at the age of 9, playing popular music (rock, folk) on acoustic and electric guitars. He studied guitar privately, and went on to play in his high school's Big Band as well as in several working rock groups which played numerous venues. Armed with a knowledge of jazz gleaned through the high school program, he went on to study Jazz (Guitar, Bass, Composition, Arranging) at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. After several years of playing throughout Canada, the US, Mexico, Denmark and Guatamala, he immersed himself in the music of Brazil while living in Rio de Janeiro (still playing jazz as well). Four years with some of Rio's top musicians, bossa nova players and composers gave him a profound understanding of this beautiful music. Paul performs Bossa Nova and Samba in the authentic style of its origin which includes singing in Portuguese, the lovely language of Brazil. These influences, together with his jazz background, have created in his own compositions a new "fusion": unique music of the sea.





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