Album Review: Shine Sister Shine

Jane Cornwell, The Evening Standard

1 Dec 2017

★★★★

Recorded with his powerhouse trio, in note-perfect solidarity with the jazz sisterhood and, indeed, with women everywhere, the redoubtable Ian Shaw gifts us an album of songs by the starry likes of Peggy Lee, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon.

In any other male vocalist's hands this might have felt presumptuous but Shaw, a consummate interpreter, has the sensitivity and skill to sing lyrics such as those of the empowering, title track, a new anthem co-written with Tanita Tikaram, to convincingly delivering Gwyneth Herbert's forthright Not the Kind of Girl and the big-hearted sentiments of Empire State of Mind.

There's authenticity here - Shaw is a long-time equal-rights campaigner - along with catchy hooks, swinging grooves and a feeling that change is finally coming.