Iowa City resident, double & electric bassist, vocalist, composer/arranger, and professor of music Blake Shaw brings a wide variety of inspiration to the table.
Currently, Blake serves as the jazz director at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA as well as Cornell College where he’s also the double bass professor in Mt Vernon. On top of his teaching schedule, you can still find him out almost every weekend playing with several different bands ranging from solo to big band.
Blake earned his AA degree from Kirkwood in 2010. He received his BM in Classical Double Bass Performance (‘13) and his MA in Jazz Composition/Performance (‘17) both from the University of Iowa. Blake is also on the Iowa City Jazz Fest board, the Entertainment Director for the Iowa City Pride Festival, and the Community Coordinator for the Together Through Sound Music Fest.
Blake is frequently a guest artist coaching ensembles in schools ranging from middle school to college-aged groups. Being an ambitious and hungry bassist has helped him navigate through many different genres of music and work with a wide variety of artists and people which are exactly the places where he feels most at home.