Gerald Shaw at Leicester Square
Alan Ashton‘s Organised Keyboards (from The ORGAN1st Magazine)
Whilst in the RAF I recall the occasion when I was on leave in London, of attending a Cinema Organ Society meeting held at the famous Regal/Odeon Marble Arch, when two of the organ world giants provided some mornings entertainment on the famous Christie pipe organ. One of those personalities was Andrew Fenner and the other was Gerald Shaw. Both in their time were hugely popular with cinema patrons and via the many broadcasts they made. Gerald subsequently swopped organ benches for the Compton organ at the Odeon, Leicester Square, and where he was once famously introduced by a BBC announcer as the ‘ogre at the organ of the Odeon’. During his residency there he recorded a 12′ LP for Concert Recording titled Fanfare, and it is the Master tape from that session, recorded by Bill Walker, that are now reissued with a further 13 tracks. These come from the collection of fellow organist Don Thompson of Pipe Organ Presentations and date back to 1964.
The new compilation is known simply as GERALD SHAW AT LEICESTER SQUARE (POP114), and like the original LP is marketed with an attractive, and I might say rare shot of Gerald. The famous Compton organ illuminated ‘hot seat’ had long been removed by his predecessor, which is just as well as Gerald is sporting a traditional kilt! On arrival at the Odeon in 1958, Gerald soon set about giving this 5c 16r Compton a sound that could truly be called individualistic. Even if you ignored his signature, the SONG OF HOME, this installation was instantly recognisable in the way that Messrs Dixon, Tudor, Savage, Blackmore and Reeve were, when they played their respective instruments. If we take a look at the sleeve notes on the original LP, we can perhaps understand why this was so. Originally fitted with a grand piano in the orchestra pit, this had been removed and replaced by a marimba. One of it’s most distinctive features is that of the Melotone unit: an electronic division incorporated into some Compton organs from 1936 onwards. This offers a wide variety of musical tone colours as well as a choice of effects, such as vibraphone and chimes. The main loudspeakers for the unit are mounted in the side walls of the theatre near the stage, with extra echo speakers in the back of the theatre circle. The Tibia is unusual in that it is a large scale Wurlitzer rank and replaced the original Compton Tibia. Manual five is a coupler manual, a feature peculiar to Great Britain, and has no stops of its own other than Vibraphone and Melotone. However the other manuals can be coupled to it at various pitches, and pistons can be set by the organist at the console by means of the Compton patent piston setting mechanism and all stop keys have double touch cancellation.
As to the recorded items, they are typical of those that Gerald would broadcast or perform in concert. It was not unusual for Gerald to plug the current film playing at the Odeon and thus it’s likely that MOON RIVER / FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE / WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR / TICO TICO / THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN / WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND / GOLDEN EARINGS / FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN / CHIM CHIM CHEREE / APRIL IN PORTUGAL / THE MAN I LOVE / SUMMERTIME / TOO LATE NOW and RIO CHAMBIRA which comes from the pen or German Band leader Werner Muller have all at one time benefited whenever he made a broadcast. Included also are his arrangements of some Classics WALTZ IN A FLAT by CHOPIN / RITUAL FIRE DANCE by MANUEL DE FALLA / CYGNET’S DANCE by TCHAIKOVSKY and the LOVE DUET from MADAM BUTTERFLY by PUCCINI.All in all this is a most welcome release because the combination of Gerald Shaw and the Odeon Compton only happens once in a lifetime. My fellow Reviewer Ralph Beaudry of the American Theatre Organ Society magazine described the first Pipe Organ Presentation release of the Johnny Seng CD (ORGAN1st Issue 28) as an ‘Archival Treasure’, an apt description which has now been adopted by Don Thompson and his team. To that I would simply add that this is a ‘Shaw’ fire winner.
MSS Studios 