ROLAND SHAW 1920-2008
On the face of things, it seemed an easy task. Just take a batch of mainly well-known Spy Thriller and Secret Agent movie themes and assemble them on various albums for consumption by an already adoring audience. It was something that couldbe offered to any capable journeyman arranger. But Roland Shaw is rather more than that.He took what was already there, the high popular action enhancers whose every phrase was known to millions worldwide,and then added a special something that provided an added gloss, a further degree of excitement or romance. The online music Space Age Musicmaker astutely observes: "Shaw actually improves upon the originals, if only subtly. His arrangement of Jerry Goldsmith's theme from In Like Flint, for example, adds a persistent rhythm line tapped out on alto cowbells that drives the number to a higher level of intensity." Shaw, now a sprightly 88, merely chuckles when questioned about the manner in which he enhanced this already brilliant array of material. "It was mainly down to stere", he modestly claims. "We were working in Phase 4 Stereo and able to bring something extra to those recordings." He forgets, or is reluctant to recall, a lifetime in music that ensured he would be hailed as one of Britain's finest orchestral arrangers. Long before The Beatles dominated the US charts, Shaw was engaged in doing exactly that, piecing together Vera Lynn's version of Auf Wiedersehen which, in 1952, topped the American charts for nine straight weeks, an incredible achievement for that, or any other era. Shaw owns up that he's proud of the achievement: "It wasn't just in America and Britain" he says. "It was something that happened all over the world.
Born "Roland Edgar Shaw-Tomkins", on 26th of May, 1920, he spent his schooldays in the Kettering-Wellingborough area of Northhamptonshire before attending the Trinity College of Music. Initially he was a drummer but he opted for a career as a pianist after hearing jazz pianist Teddy Wilson. He became part of a band known as The Royal Kitie Juniors, during World War II, as Sgt: Tomkins, he served in the RAF and led the RAF No.1 Band of the Middle East Forces but returned to the civilian big band scene, opting to be known as Roland Shaw and writing for both Geraldo and Ted Heath, additionally playing and arranging for the exciting Teddy Foster band. His talent recognised, he worked with American arranger Toots Camarata who commissioned a suite for woodwind, earning Shaw a substantial fee - which he immediately spent on a vintage Rolls Royce. Established as an arranger-producer with Decca, he also worked with Noel Coward and the BBC Show Band.But it was with Decca/London that he continued making an impact, proving prolific in his work rate.
Singers such as Tommy Steele, Lita Roza, Lee Lawrence, Joan Regan, Mel Torme and Jimmy Young benefited from Shaw's expertise while many of the orchestral recordings by Franck Chacksfield, Stanley Black and Mantovani, bore the Shaw halmark. The Venetian born Mantovani had already conquered America with his cascading string sounds but wanted to add a more contemporary feel to his work. During 1954 he added Roland Shaw to his arranging team to achieve this very purpose. It proved to be a blossoming relationship. Colin McKenzie's Mantovani biography claims that Shaw contributed over 150 scores to Mantovani's library up to 1975. "But I think it was many more than that" chuckles Shaw as he recals the huge amount of work resulting from his friendship with the orchestral leader. And it was a genuine friendship between Monty and Roly, as theyhailed each other. They not only shared a passion for high quality music but also for high powered cars, Shaw racing at Goodwood, Silverstone and Brands Hatch, additionally appearing as a race marchall at Le Mans. But it was the musical aspect of the relationship that kept Shaw up at nights, Colin McKenzie recounting: "He did most of his arranging at night, when the phone had stopped ringing, sitting at a piano with a board in front of him, sometimes until three in three in the morning. Then he would attend the sessions and sometimes helped out in the control box, using his scores." As chief arranger and MD for Decca/London during the label's Phase 4 years, he helped Marconi develop various stereo techniques which were employed on various albums by the Ted Heath Orchestra plus the brilliant series of releases under his own name. The musicians employed were always of superb quality. "I gave these players so many sessions that they were able to give Phase 4 and London Records priority" says Shaw. "And Duke Ellington once said when asked how he managed to keep so many fine players together - I gave them money!" When informed of Poker's ambition to create an all-encompassing collection of his Spy and Secret Agent scores, Shaw seemed bemused. "Why would anybody want to hear those after all these years?" he queried.
Roland Shaw, a doyen of both big band swing and string orchestral recordings, was a natural when it came to soundtracks. Along the way he fashioned many of his own, supplying musical backdrops to such films as The Great Waltz, The Song Of Norway, Straight On Til Morning, The Secret Of My Success plus unaccredited orchestrations for The Duke Wore Jeans, Dance Hall, Kongs and Summer Holiday. Revisiting the brainwashed world of Harry Palmer (The Ipcress File), the bikini-decorated universe of Derek Flint (Our Man Flint), the Le Carre charted maze of Alex Leamas (The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) and the avenues of absurdities trod by the bowler-hatted John Steed and his lethal female partners (The Avengers) came easily to him. Perhaps the attraction, his love of this particular genre and its array of disparate heroes stemmed from Shaw's romance with the world of classic cars.
At various times, his garage had housed not only the aforementioned Rolls Royce but also a Bentley, a Jaguar 3.8, a Ferrari and a souped-up mini-Cooper along with a couple of high-powered motor-cycles. Imagining 007 being pursued in an Aston Martin or one of the several Chevvy's that appeared in the early Bond films, plus the Saint's Volvo 1800, along with Steed's ever-present vintage Bentley, was something that easily came to mind as Shaw indulged in one of his dead-of-night orchestrating sessions. Reasons why, perhaps, his storming, jazz-boogaloo version of Peter Gunn tops that of Henry Mancini's original rendition or Shaw's purely instrumental interpretation of Diamonds Are Forever manages to sound like an entire film soundtrack in its own right. Little wonder that, in recent times, the vinyl albums that Roland Shaw released during the heyday of Decca/London have been fetching fees in excess of fifty pounds from those seeking the best in spy and secret agent sounds.
Roland Shaw is a vastly under-represented artist on disc today. The best way to appreciate his genius and build a collection is unfortunately to scour the second-hand market for LP's from his "golden-age" of the seventies (or search the related music blogs such as this).
Albums released include:
The James Bond Thrillers (LL 3412) 1966
James Bond In Action (LK 4730) 1966
Westward Ho! (SP 44045) 1964