My show in my hometown of London, Ontario was a magical event. It was all that I had hoped for as a homecoming performance. So many friends and family were there that it felt like an intimate evening in someone's living room, and yet it was in the beautifully restored Aeolian Hall. Thanks to all who came out and shared my music with me.
The following article was written by James Reaney for the London Free Press days before my show.
London Free Press
Thu, October 2, 2008
Bryant Back Home
By JAME...
Thu, October 2, 2008
Bryant Back Home
By JAMES REANEY
The only samba-singing Brescia philosophy grad who has shared the stage with Carlos Santana has her own personal homecoming tomorrow.
Shannon Bryant plays London for the first time in about eight years at Aeolian Hall tomorrow at 8 p.m. "It's a little bit of a homecoming. I have a lot of friends and family coming out," says Bryant, a Lord Dorchester secondary school grad.
The singer and songwriter moved to San Francisco in 2000. Since then, she has often returned to visit her parents, who live in Dorchester, and other family members who live in London. Bryant admits to asking herself why it took so long to play a concert during a visit.
The answer, she has decided, is that her full-length album Oceano is out this time around. "Everything is in place at the right time," she says.
The self-produced Oceano's songs are all originals. They blend Brazilian, Eastern, pop and jazz rhythms with Bryant's vocals.
Her words on Oceano often reflect the spiritual and inner concerns that look back to her days studying philosophy at Brescia University College.
"It is serving me. I didn't know what I was going to do with it at the time," she says of her degree. "I don't like to say 'messages.' It sounds preachy," she says of the meaning and spiritual reflections to be found in her words. "It really just comes from my own experience . . . I'm getting the message and I'm just singing about it."
Bryant began writing songs before the voyage to Oceano. One of them, Little Samba, was co-written with a London songwriter. "I wrote it with Steve Hardy in London here -- it's always been a favourite of people," she says of Little Samba. "It was one that's always fun. I'll do it for sure."
Hardy and Bryant shared melodies and lyrics while creating their samba, she says. "He was always so good at the chords, the music element."
Other songs from Oceano are sure to join Little Samba at Aeolian Hall when Bryant and her group take the stage. Travelling from the Bay area is bassist Mark Armenta.
Joining the two San Franciscans are London-tied pianist Steve Holowitz, trumpet player Paul Stevenson and drummer Richard Brisco. Earlier in their careers, Stevenson recorded with Bryant on For All I Know, a performance that is on Oceano.
Bryant's music combines elements of jazz, world and pop. She chooses the term "adult contemporary" to describe it. "It's not the kind of pop where it's a lot of guitar-based rocking pop."
By any name, her music has its roots in the Forest City. Bryant has family ties to Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians. Lombardo guitarist Francis (Muff) Henry was her grandmother's cousin.
Her first band was an 11-piece R&B group, the Midnight Soul Revue, an act modelled on the band and music in the film The Commitments.
She also sang with Margaritaville -- Spirit of the Keys, a seven-member London band which paid tribute to Jimmy Buffett and the music of the islands.
In the same era, Bryant's love of Brazilian and Latin music was strong enough to win her a Sunfest-tied gig in her London days. Her love for those melodies and rhythms continues now that she's in California.
Bryant's California adventures include a close encounter with legendary guitarist Santana, who brought Latin rhythms to rock four decades ago.
In March, 2004 Shannon headed to the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy with her demo and became a member. The same day, she was selected to perform with Santana in a tribute to the Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.
"I piped up and said, 'I can sing,' " she says. "I'm singing lead for the Mickey Hart song which was Fire on the Mountain -- I had to memorize these words," she says.
There was talk Sammy Hagar would be the guitarist. "It turned out be Carlos Santana and it was amazing," Bryant says.