Blake Shaw BIG(ish) Band

Blake Shaw is a double bassist, composer & arranger, bandleader and private lessons teacher originally from Lisbon, Iowa who now resides in Iowa City. Blake’s first vocal jazz record, "it happened.” (released in May 2019) closely follows jazz idioms but has also proven to be only a small part of the bag of tricks he brings to the table. Double bass being his primary instrument has helped him gain a plethora of experience in some of the most special ways possible. Not only is he an in demand bass player but has also shown he can carry his own with lead vocals… at the same time!

For Blake’s current project “Born to Be Blue: the Music of Mel Torme” he will be joined by 10 other musicians from all over Iowa consisting of high school band teachers, music professors, local Iowa favorites, and more. In Blake’s arrangements you’ll hear from every person in the band at some point and sometimes several points during that night. 

Mel Torme had a beautiful career and played with even more beautiful people. The music for this show will be taken from all over his career as well as some from his favorite musicians and composers. Blake’s influences come from various genres and instrumentalists. He has made it his mission to become diverse and proficient in many different contexts. His experience stretches from jazz, rock, classical, bluegrass, to latin, funk, R&B, and anything in between. His main bass influences have been but aren’t limited to Dave Holland, Christian McBride and John Clayton. Adding all this to Mel’s extensive repertoire has turned in to a dream band for Blake to write for. You can expect new arrangements on the return to Noce.

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 Blake Shaw studied with John Hall on double bass at the age of 17 with encouragement from his high school band director Roger DeYoung after becoming familiar with electric bass a few years before. He started his college career in the fall of 2008 at Kirkwood Community College and studied double bass with Jeanette Welch. He moved on to the University of Iowa to pursue a Bachelor’s of Music in classical double bass performance studying with professor Volkan Orhon and completing that degree in 2013. After a brief cruise ship gig in Australia, with the P&O Australia cruise line, following his BM degree he came back to the US to start a Master of Arts degree at UI under the supervision of John Rapson, Damani Phillips, James Dreier and Steve Grismore while serving as one of the jazz department’s teaching assistants. Blake was fortunate enough to play along side with several different guest artists during his years at UI such as: Wycliffe Gordon, O’had Talmor, Carmen Bradford, Terrell Stafford, Dave Pietro, and Dick Oatts.

Blake has had a number of great experiences opening for people and bands like Donny McCaslin, Lake Street Dive, Bridget Kearney, Margaret Glaspy, The Marcus King Band, Groovement, Matt Wilson, John Raymond and Real Feels and Caroline Smith. He's also played in bands featured in different music fests such as the main stage of the Iowa City Jazz Fest, Twin Cities Jazz Fest, 80/35, Camp Euforia, Summer Camp, Iowa Soul Fest, Iowa Stock Music Fest, Mission Creek, Des Moines Jazz Fest, and Grey Area. Shaw has also held a seat on the Iowa City Jazz Fest committee picking the main stage acts since 2016. Currently Shaw teaches general music at the Hiawatha and Cedar Rapids Day School’s along with touring and gigging throughout the year.

You can follow Blake on instagram for more info: @theeblakebass or his FB music page @blakeshawbass