Singer brings her jazz back home
Guelph-raised Calgary-based Maura Shaftoe performing in Kitchener
KITCHENER — Jazz singer Maura Shaftoe decided it was finally time to return home from Calgary for a concert, having left Guelph a couple of decades ago.
“I have two brothers and two sisters, they’ve never seen me perform other than at our parents’ funerals,” said Shaftoe, who will play Saturday night at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener.
The singer will perform songs from her independently released album, “Make Me a Memory,” a deeply felt album that explains her philosophy. It’s all about living in the moment and not having regrets.
Shaftoe will perform with musical partner and record producer, drummer Tyler Hornby, and she has hired local keyboard player John Zadro, as well as a guest bass player.
Born in Montreal, Shaftoe moved to Guelph as a child after her father was transferred to Toronto though he wanted his kids raised in a small town, not a big city. She remembers growing up in a musical household. All her siblings sang, her father playing opera and classical music on the radio, and her mom was a musical theatre performer.
“We were exposed to a lot of music,” she said. “But music wasn’t something my parents wanted me to pursue.” In fact, her parents were pretty matter-offact, telling her, “You’re not doing that.”
Then along came a child and single parenthood, and Shaftoe’s dreams of singing were adjusted slightly.
She didn’t want her son to ever feel guilty that he had somehow interfered with her love of music.
“I didn’t want to be one of those parents who didn’t pursue music ‘because of you,’” she said, admitting she was always a painfully shy singer.
“I took lessons when I could afford it.”
Music continued to figure largely in her life even as she was raising her son on her own and working in the automotive industry, which is how she ended up in Calgary.
Ask her what her automotive jobs have included, Shaftoe’s list seems endless: service manager, salesperson, fleet manager, business manager. She left the auto industry to become a personal trainer and now, at 54, she works in insurance.
“I still work full-time,” she said. “I’ve always used my work to fund my singing.”
The thing about Shaftoe is, she is independent and believes in doing everything herself, right down to organizing every aspect of concert performances.
“My first big show, I booked the venue, sold all the tickets, I did the posters, I called CBC,” she said. The Calgary show was sold out, her hard work paying off.
“I force myself to rise to the occasion,” she said.
The new 11-song album, released in May, is definitely jazzy but with strong influences from other genres such as folk, Latin and funk. As for Saturday’s concert, Shaftoe is introspective.
“It will be good to go home and see my family,” she said, quoting lines from one of her songs, “what are you waiting for? Life goes by in a flash.”
She said her music will offer “something for everyone. It’s really lyrically motivating.
“I wanted the lyrics to mean something.”