Clare Teal: Apologies for absence but Van’s a man you don’t say no to

Sorry I missed you guys last week – the strangest thing happened. The morning before I was due to write my column, having battled our way home through the raging storms after Sunday’s radio show, finally getting to bed around 3am, I received an email from Mr Van Morrison’s manager requesting my presence at a very nice recording studio in London the very next day.

I looked down at my to do list – write column, address small mountain of paperwork covering desk, build two-hour radio show, learn 20 new songs by Thursday – after a millisecond’s thought I did drop everything. Singing a duet with one of your songwriting heroes, having met them for all of three minutes beforehand, is a little daunting, but it was an amazing experience and one that I’ll treasure forever.

I left the studio in a daze, pinching myself at regular intervals. From there I made my way across a beautifully autumnal looking London, to the residence of Mr Ian Shaw, good friend and jazz singer extraordinaire. We had a two hour show of classic duets to put together from scratch in less than 48 hours. Not only is Ian an incredible singer he’s also a fine pianist. We spent a good deal of time giggling and eating chocolates and macaroons. He was in good form despite being manically busy, having literally just taken part in a highly acclaimed performance of Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels as part of the Southbank’s The Rest Is Noise Festival.

The duets ranged from the sublime, With You I’m Born Again, Bridge Over Troubled Water and Lou Reed’s Perfect Day to the ridiculous I Got You Babe, You’re The One That I Want from Grease, a short series of duets that Julie Andrews and David Bowie should have sung together. In amongst all this a healthy jangle of jazz and more laughs, our favourite bit was trying to spontaneously sing the random requests suggested by the audience.

The gig was held at The Hippodrome Casino and even though the northerner in me felt the urge to run up to the gambling people and say: “What are you throwing your money away for?” I instead turned my attention to the lure of the very delicious fish and chips calling me from the restaurant.