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Jean Shy isn’t Shy February 7, 2011 by John Hurd

Filed under Music

Fate can be strange. Mid-set Jean Shy sang ‘Still got the Blues’, and at evenings end I

had an SMS saying the songs writer Gary Moore was dead. The music he loved so much

is very much alive though and Shy and her ‘Shy Boys’ band proved it with a shimmering

display at The Harmonie on Sunday.

Jean Shy was born in Chicago and at only twelve years old was signed up to the

legendary Chess Record label. She’s written four childrens books, had her own U.S. TV

programme and as recently as 2009 she was a Blues Music Awards Nominee from the

renowned ‘Blues Foundation’. How can it be then that most of the Blues fans I’ve

spoken to at other shows had never heard her name? In the words of RUF Records

Managing Director Thomas Ruf “People forget quickly”. Promoter Manuel Banha saw

her some fifteen years ago in Bonn and didn’t forget though.

The reward for Banha’s good memory and taste was a mesmerising evening. Back to the

roots of the Blues in tracks like ‘Boom Boom’ and the Etta James classic ‘Wang dang

doodle’ but also showing the flowers those roots have produced: modern classics like

Cockers ‘Unchain my Heart’, ‘Whitesnakes ‘Aint no Love’ and Gary Moore’s ‘Still got

the Blues’.

Further proof of where those roots have taken hold was physically on hand in the shape

of teenager Alex Walker from California band ‘Nine Door Empire’ who joined Shy’s

lead guitar duo for a storming ‘Sweet Home Chicago’. His own band is more in the Foo

Fighters direction he told me, but he listens to everything and usually the blues is in there

somewhere. Despite Shy having made diverse discs over her long career – with Gospel,

Soul and Jazz offerings – tonight Blues is thankfully not just ‘in there somewhere’ but is

everywhere. ‘My Girl’, ‘Little Red Rooster’, ‘Rock me all night long’ every one a classic

sung and played flawlessly.

You know the band puts music first when the bass player sits on a barstool –

automatically there’s a wonderful old fashioned ‘bigband’ feeling. These guys were

‘Erste Sahne’ too as a German colleague later described them (cream of the crop as we

Brits would say) They reminded me of the sort of people you’d see behind Elvis or BB

King. Musicians who can (and do) play everything fate (and top quality singers) throws

at them. They even keep the beat perfectly on ‘Sag mir wo die Blümen sind’. One minute

conjuring up a John Lee Hooker rhythm the next a searing Gary Moore solo.

Which brings me back to the sad news of the evening. Jean had a bad cold so after getting

a CD signed I wished her ‘Gute Besserung’ and mentioned Gary Moore’s passing. He

was a hero of mine I remarked. “Mine too!” she replied. Somehow I think Jean Shy is

someone Gazza, with his love for raw Chicago Blues, would treasure hearing that from.

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Stimme aus Dynamit VON CORNELIA KRSAK - zuletzt aktualisiert: 14.02.2011

Wesel (RP) Jean Shy, die Blues-Diva aus Chicago, war nach langer Zeit wieder in

Wesel. Im rappelvollen "Q-Stall" ließ sie mit den "Shy Guys" und Weseler

Instrumentalisten ihre Deutschlandtour ausklingen. Die Stimmung war großartig.

Jean Shy, unter anderem mit dem

Weseler Gitarristen Klaus Zimmermann

(re.), spielten ein großartiges Konzert

im "Q-Stall". rp-foto: Jürgen Bosmann

Ihr Temperament gleicht einem

brodelnden Vulkan, und ihre Stimme ist

purer Dynamit. Die Auftritte von Jean

Shy haben etwas geradezu Magisches.

Von der ersten Note an schlägt die

Blues-Diva aus Chicago ihre Fans in

einen Bann. Man hat sie mit Größen

wie Tina Turner, Van Morrison und

Etta James verglichen, doch Jean Shy ist stets Jean Shy geblieben. Jedem Song drückt sie

ihren eigenen Stempel auf. Nach langer Abwesenheit kehrte die stimmgewaltige Sängerin

jetzt nach Wesel zurück, um hier mit ihrer Band, den "Shy Guys", ihre Deutschlandtour

ausklingen zu lassen.

Schut und Damschen mischen mit

Im "Q-Stall" ließ die gar nicht schüchterne Jean die Wände wackeln. Rund 300 Besucher

drängten sich vor der Bühne, auf Treppen und Emporen, und jubelten Shy zu, deren

kraftvolle Blues-Röhre keinen Verstärker nötig gehabt hätte. Shy präsentierte sich so, wie

die Fans sie seit Jahrzehnten kennen und lieben: Kerniger Rhyth'm 'n Blues mit vielen

ruhigen, aber dafür sehr intensiven Stücken, wie "This is a man's world" von James

Brown oder "I'd rather go blind" von Etta James. Als Tribute für den kürzlich

verstorbenen Gary Moore hatte die Band dessen Titel "Still got the blues" ins Programm

genommen. Beim Ray-Charles-Klassiker "Unchain my heart" flippte das Publikum so

richtig aus.

JEAN SHY & THE SHY GUYS

The Blues Got Soul

CD Review

Living Blues Magazine

Issue April 2010

www.livingblues.com

Chicago soul singer Jean Shy has been recording since the late 1960s for such labels as Starville,

Checker, Dakar, Foxcar, Honey, Fantasy, Playboy, Polydor, and R.S.O., and since 1983 for King

Edward Records, a company originally based in Duisburg, Germany, but now located in

Hollywood. She has garnered little attention for her efforts, at least here in the United States, and

even Robert Pruter’s otherwise impressive 1991 book Chicago Soul makes no mention of her.

Such inattention is a crime that should be rectified by her current CD, which shows her to be one

of the most awesome soul, blues, rock, and gospel singers performing today.

Shy, who divides her time between Germany and Southern California, possesses big, remarkably

elastic contralto pipes that she applies with consummate passion on The Blues Got Soul to a

diverse set of oldies that includes Ray Charles’ “Unchain Mys Heart,” Donny Hathaway’s “A

Song For You,” Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You),” Muddy

Water’s “Rock Me,” Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock’n Roll, and the church songs “Precious

Memories” and “Amazing Grace,” as well as several original compositions, both secular and

spiritual. Her moans and guttural asides bring Mavis Staples to mind.

Nine of the dozen tracks were recorded live at an Open Air Festival in Duisburg, the remaining

three at studios in Duisburg and Frankfurt. The Shy Guys, an exceptional band of German

musicians that features the torrid guitar work of Klaus Zimmermann, and Martin Hoette, the

tightly locking bass and drums of Peter Bruemmer and Bernhard Spiess, and the blistening tenor

saxophone of Bernd Winterschladen, match the intensity of Shy’s vocals blow by blow. And

Georg Mahr’s Hammond B-3 organ gives an ideally sanctified flavor to three of the gospel

numbers.

-LEE HILDEBRAND-

JEAN SHY & FRIENDS

Blow Top Blues

King Edward Music – 77712

CD Review

Living Blues Magazine

Issue February 2011

www.livingblues.com

Jean Shy is one of the most versatile vocalists on the planet. On her previous album, 2008’s

magnificent The Blues Got Soul, the veteran Chicago-born singer delved into a mix of soul,

blues, rock, and gospel, all delivered with power and passion, with backing from her tight

German band, the Shy Guys. Shy’s newly issued 13th CD, Blow Top Blues, presents her in more

of a jazz-oriented mode, although there’s still some soul, rock, and straight urban blues among

the 15 tracks. The booklet credits are not entirely clear, but at least some of the selections

appeared on earlier releases and were recorded between 1993 and 2003 with three different

bands: the Shy Guys, Poland’s Jazz Band Ball Orchestra (JBBO), and one billed as the Real

Climax Band Cologne (not to be confused with England’s Climax Blues Band). Several others,

including the autobiographical rocker Livin’ The Blues, feature synthesizers and drum machines.

The title track and Evil Gal Blues were early Dinah Washington hits, both written by renowned

jazz critic Leonard Feather. Shy sings them with sass, backed by the Climax band. Blow Top

Blues is treated to a medium tempo swing groove and features the commanding guitar work of

Guenter Allmer. Evil Gal Blues is rendered as a hard-driving shuffle, with solos by high-note

trumpeter Martin Reuthner and two-fisted pianist Uli Stollenwerk. Another blues with Climax,

the classic The Night Time Is The Right Time, is given a shuffle arrangement at a much faster clip

than Nappy Brown and Ray Charles had taken it years earlier. JBBO leads Shy down an even

more straight-ahead jazz path on three of her own compositions, of which Maze (I Just Wanna

Escape) is especially outstanding. And, with the Shy Guys, she nicely swings Fred McDowell’s

You Got To Move.

Shy can really belt the blues, but she also has a tender side on which her breathy tones at times

suggest an Esther Phillips influence. Among the disc’s strongest ballad performances are the

standard Willow Weep For Me, Sam Dees’ Love All The Hurt Away, and a sweet, heartfelt

version of Where Have All The Flowers Gone? She and Climax give Pete Seeger’s anti-war

anthem a For Your Precious Love–like triplet arrangement, with Shy singing the lyrics entirely

in German as Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind, a translation by Max Colpert that was originally

performed by Marlene Dietrich.

-Lee Hildebrand-

The CD Review can be found online at www.livingblues.com/inside-living-blues/cd-

reviews.html

Dee Dee's Jazz Diary

Dee Dee McNeil

Dee Dee McNeil, born in Detroit, Michigan, spent her early musical life as a contract

songwriter for Motown Record Company. Her music has been recorded by Nancy Wilson,

Jonah Jones, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Gladys Knight & the Pips, David Ruffin, The

Four Tops, Edwin Starr and the wife of late, great Reggae master Bob Marley, Rita Marley,

to name only a few. Although she is successful commercially, McNeil's roots and real

passion have always embraced jazz music. She's a diverse writer, poet, plays piano, sings

professionally and has written a number of plays and children's stories. Her freelance

articles & CD reviews have appeared in Essence, Pathfinders Travel Magazine, Cadence

Magazine, All About Jazz and many more publications, both in this country and abroad. She

was the original lady who recorded with the historic Watts Prophets spoken-word group in

the early 70's. Their "Rappin' Black in a White World" LP was nominated for an NAACP

Award long before rap became popular. Her original song, "What Is A Man" (sampled from

that LP) was used in the motion picture "Higher Learning." As part of the first spoken-word

group to put danceable music to poetry, she became opening act for Roberta Flack, Les

McCann, Richard Pryor, and many others. Ms. McNeil is currently producing jazz concerts

in hopes of keeping jazz music alive; raising the pay scale for jazz musicians; introducing

jazz to a younger audience and at the same time, sharing historic facts about some of our

great jazz artists, who are too often taken for granted. In 2001, Dee Dee won the National

BET (Black Entertainment Television) Jazz Discovery Contest, competing with vocalists all

over the country. When she is not performing at jazz clubs, she is a part-time vocal coach

at the California College of Music and also teaches Songwriting and Artist Development.

www.deedeemac.com

Jean Shy & Friends: "Blow Top Blues" (King Edward Music #77712) (Jan

30, 2011, 9:33 PM PST)

Jean Shy conjures up memories of the great Dinah Washington, with similar timbre and

excellence of delivery. She is powerful, singing the title tune, Leonard Feather's blues

composition "Blow Top Blues," ably backed by her German band. The horn section is

dynamic and the group sounds more like a big band than a small jazz ensemble. The

harmonics and punchy horn section superbly support Shy's vocal delivery.

"Party on the Weekend" is an original composition that Shy co-wrote. It dances its way into

the room as an up-tempo, celebratory song. This composition is punctuated by Jean's

ability to swing her danceable blues in her own unique way. "Willow Weep for Me" gives us

a taste of Shy's sincerity and prowess as an interpreter of song, both gutsy and heartfelt.

The guitar solo on this number is outstanding and the 'live' audience shows great

appreciation for same. It's too bad the record company didn't list the musicians playing on

this disc because they are definitely the crème de la crème. Most of this project was

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recorded in a variety of European 'live' settings, using various bands. No matter the space

or the place, Shy holds the music down with solid talent. She stomps her foot on the Blues

and splashes it generously all over the listener. This is quite evident on "The Night Time Is

the Right Time".

"Maze" (another original composition by Shy, E. Walker Kay and K. Walker) is a little

different, leaning much more towards jazz than blues. No matter. This lady handles the

jazzy song with the same honest interpretation, perfect elocution and electrifying power that

she uses to sing her blues. I enjoyed the trumpet solo on this tune. At times Shy sounds a

lot like Esther Phillips, both in the way she phrases and the vibrato in her voice. But there's

no question, she is definitely her own person, mastering her own unique style. "Evil Gal

Blues" shuffles along, galloping to the forefront and making every swing dancer in earshot

want to get up and grab a partner. There's a honky-tonk pianist on this cut who plays

joyfully.

Anybody who's looking for a new expression in the business of blues is going to be

enamored with this down-home chanteuse. "Wouldn't Want To Be You" reminds me of the

great Johnny Taylor. It utilizes that kind of production, using the organ and guitar to solidly

lock down the groove. Male background voices shadow the 'hook' and reinforce Shy's

powerful rendition of this song. She's a storyteller and on "The Other Side of Blue" she

gives us a taste of how she might handle singing country/western music, although the

arrangement is surprisingly jazzy. The song, "Livin' the Blues," has that pumped up quality

that Ike and Tina Turner made so popular in the 1970s. Even the German song "Sag Mir

Wu Die Blumen Sind" sounds good when Shy sings it, despite the fact I don't understand

the language. I have to say Jean Shy's vocals are the thread that passes through a musical

needle and sews all of these various groups and styles together into a perfect 'Blues'

fabric.

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Jean Shy & Friends - Blow Top Blues (King Edward)

Jean Shy kann zwischen Gospel, Blues, Soul und Jazz so ziemlich alles singen. Schon langehat die in Chicago geborene Sängerin und Songwriterin eine zweite Heimat in Deutschlandgefunden. Ihr aktuelles Album "Blow Top Blues" bringt Zusammenarbeiten mit ihren Shy Boysebenso wie mit The Climax Band Cologne oder dem polnischen Jazz Band Ball Orchestra.

2008 erhielt Jean Shy eine Nominierung für den Blues Musik Award in der Kategorie Soul BluesFemale Artists of the Year. Das war für die seit Jahrzehnten zwischen Deutschland und denUSA pendelnde Sängerin eine lange verdiente Anerkennung. Denn schon seit ihrerHighschool-Zeit ist sie musikalisch aktiv und in den Plattenstudios der Welt zu Gast. Doch auchwenn sie gerade in Europa als vielseitige und kraftvolle Sängerin gefeiert wird, sindHitparaden-Erfolge eher Mangelware (und beziehen sich meist auf Gastauftritte inirgendwelchen Dance-Produktionen). Doch die eigentliche Stärke von Jean Shy liegt nicht dortsondern eindeutig im Soul und Blues in der Nachfolge von Sängerinnnen wie Etta Taylor oderauch Tina Turner.

Das beweist auch die im Herbst 2010 veröffentlichte Scheibe "Blow Top Blues", auf der Shyneben Klassikern wie "My Baby Just Cares For Me" oder "The Night Time Is The Right Time"auch eigene Stücke singt. Begleitet wird sie dabei von den drei Bands, mit denen sie in Europain den letzten Jahren meist zu erleben war. Da sind einerseits ihre "Shy Boys", die für denklassischen Bluessound zuständig sind. Eher jazzig sind die Aufnahmen mit der Climax BandCologne. Und die Nummern mit dem aus Krakow stammenden Jazz Band Ball Orchestra gehendann noch weiter in Richtung Bigbandswing und -blues. Und ihre wirklich große und kraftvolleStimme kann sich scheinbar anstrengungslos an die verschiedenen Besetzungen anpassen,trägt selbst solche viel zu häufig gecoverten Stücke wie "Sag mir wo die Blumen sind" in ihreganz eigenen Regionen des Soulblues. So ist "Blow Top Blues" eine Möglichkeit, eine zuUnrecht wenig bekannte Sängerin kennenzulernen.

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