Gavin Walker
Jul 6, 2007, 02:49 AM
Trumpeter/composer Woody Shaw became a tragic figure of his time and although he was a brilliant and much-admired musician his career never quite secured the stable position which would have allowed him to flourish. Throughout his adult life he was dogged by some terrible misfortunes. One of those was that he was born too soon.....had he been on the Jazz scene in the late 40's and 50's he would have achieved star status along with Fats Navarro and Clifford Brown.
Shaw was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina on Dec. 24,1944 and moved with his family to Newark, New Jersey where he, at the behest of his dad, who was a singer in a gospel group, began trumpet studies at 11. It wasn't long before Woody began playing with local bands and by 1964 was asked by Eric Dolphy (with whom he had recorded) to come to Europe and form a permanent band. Dolphy's premature death in Berlin ended that but Shaw stayed in Europe and played gigs with Johnny Griffin, Kenny Clarke, Bud Powell and other American ex-pats. When Shaw returned to the USA in 1965 he joined Horace Silver's band and went on to join Max Roach's group. Unfortunately by that time Shaw was hooked on heroin and right up to his demise he was never able to shake off his addiction. His career was moving ahead however and he began to appear on many recordings and joined McCoy Tyner's band (check out his work on Tyner's "Expansions" on Blue Note).
Woody in the 70's joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Gil Evans' big band and by that time had rid himself of any comparisons with Freddie Hubbard. There were some similarities in their sounds but Hubbard was essentially a lyricist and a melodist while Shaw explored superimposed chord progressions and chromatics and had a much deeper harmonic sense. Shaw was really the last of a legacy of great trumpeters beginning with Armstrong to Roy Eldridge to Dizzy, Miles, Navarro and Dorham to Clifford Brown then onto Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. This is an over simplification, of course but serves the purpose here.
Shaw stayed on the West Coast for a few years and gigged and recorded with Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson as well as his own sessions then returned to New York. His first album called "The Moontrane" for Muse won critical acclaim and then Miles Davis pushed to have Woody signed to Columbia. Shaw was on his way and made a great series of recordings for that label before being dropped in one of their frequent purges. Remember, this was the 70's and as great as these recordings were Shaw's acoustic Jazz was out of favour and the records did not sell as well as they should have.
We draw our Jazz feature from this time with a live date recorded at the Village Vanguard with his best band. This powerful date features Shaw on cornet (he favoured this horn at this time) and fluegelhorn with the late Carter Jefferson on tenor and soprano saxophones plus the incredible Onaje Allan Gumbs on piano, Clint Houston on bass (sadly departed) and the dynamic Victor Lewis on drums. The compositions are by Shaw, Gumbs, Lewis and McCoy Tyner. This band is on fire and is the best of the Columbia dates. You'll find out how good this group is tonight.!!!
As an aside, I met Woody in the mid-70's through my friend, saxophonist Manny Boyd, who told Shaw back then that I was a good player. When Shaw played a one-nighter here in the early 80's with a new band (Steve Turre, Mulgrew Miller, Stafford James and Tony Reedus) we met before his gig and talked and did some tai chi. He invited me to join him for a few tunes on the 2nd set. When he called me to the bandstand his spoken introduction was a bit over the top (calling me the greatest, etc) but he spoke from his heart and it was a real privilege to play a few tunes with him and the band and many musicians that were there said that I played very well and I felt that I did. That was the last time I saw Woody and every time I hear his recordings it brings back that night. Woody died in 1989 after falling in front of a New York subway train and losing his right arm....he died in hospital a few weeks later. Shaw's legacy lives in the trumpet styles of Wynton Marsalis, Ryan Kisor, Jeremy Pelt and countless others and tonight he lives on The Jazz Show.
Shaw was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina on Dec. 24,1944 and moved with his family to Newark, New Jersey where he, at the behest of his dad, who was a singer in a gospel group, began trumpet studies at 11. It wasn't long before Woody began playing with local bands and by 1964 was asked by Eric Dolphy (with whom he had recorded) to come to Europe and form a permanent band. Dolphy's premature death in Berlin ended that but Shaw stayed in Europe and played gigs with Johnny Griffin, Kenny Clarke, Bud Powell and other American ex-pats. When Shaw returned to the USA in 1965 he joined Horace Silver's band and went on to join Max Roach's group. Unfortunately by that time Shaw was hooked on heroin and right up to his demise he was never able to shake off his addiction. His career was moving ahead however and he began to appear on many recordings and joined McCoy Tyner's band (check out his work on Tyner's "Expansions" on Blue Note).
Woody in the 70's joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Gil Evans' big band and by that time had rid himself of any comparisons with Freddie Hubbard. There were some similarities in their sounds but Hubbard was essentially a lyricist and a melodist while Shaw explored superimposed chord progressions and chromatics and had a much deeper harmonic sense. Shaw was really the last of a legacy of great trumpeters beginning with Armstrong to Roy Eldridge to Dizzy, Miles, Navarro and Dorham to Clifford Brown then onto Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. This is an over simplification, of course but serves the purpose here.
Shaw stayed on the West Coast for a few years and gigged and recorded with Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson as well as his own sessions then returned to New York. His first album called "The Moontrane" for Muse won critical acclaim and then Miles Davis pushed to have Woody signed to Columbia. Shaw was on his way and made a great series of recordings for that label before being dropped in one of their frequent purges. Remember, this was the 70's and as great as these recordings were Shaw's acoustic Jazz was out of favour and the records did not sell as well as they should have.
We draw our Jazz feature from this time with a live date recorded at the Village Vanguard with his best band. This powerful date features Shaw on cornet (he favoured this horn at this time) and fluegelhorn with the late Carter Jefferson on tenor and soprano saxophones plus the incredible Onaje Allan Gumbs on piano, Clint Houston on bass (sadly departed) and the dynamic Victor Lewis on drums. The compositions are by Shaw, Gumbs, Lewis and McCoy Tyner. This band is on fire and is the best of the Columbia dates. You'll find out how good this group is tonight.!!!
As an aside, I met Woody in the mid-70's through my friend, saxophonist Manny Boyd, who told Shaw back then that I was a good player. When Shaw played a one-nighter here in the early 80's with a new band (Steve Turre, Mulgrew Miller, Stafford James and Tony Reedus) we met before his gig and talked and did some tai chi. He invited me to join him for a few tunes on the 2nd set. When he called me to the bandstand his spoken introduction was a bit over the top (calling me the greatest, etc) but he spoke from his heart and it was a real privilege to play a few tunes with him and the band and many musicians that were there said that I played very well and I felt that I did. That was the last time I saw Woody and every time I hear his recordings it brings back that night. Woody died in 1989 after falling in front of a New York subway train and losing his right arm....he died in hospital a few weeks later. Shaw's legacy lives in the trumpet styles of Wynton Marsalis, Ryan Kisor, Jeremy Pelt and countless others and tonight he lives on The Jazz Show.