Jazz Articles about Woody Shaw

Woody Shaw: Tokyo 1981

by C. Michael Bailey
July 12, 2018

That trumpeter Woody Shaw is considered “underrated" may be a considerable understatement. Shaw died at age 44 in 1989, but he managed to release 33 recordings as a leader (27 in his lifetime) and worked in collaboration with Gary Bartz, Art Blakey, Chick Corea, Stanley Cowell, Eric Dolphy and most notably with Dexter Gordon, on his 1976 Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard (Columbia). His recording, Rosewood (Columbia, 1978), his first major label release, is considered his masterpiece. Shaw's seamlessly ...

Woody Shaw: The Complete Muse Sessions

by John Kelman
September 9, 2013

The past couple years have been banner ones for reviving the legacy of Woody Shaw, a trumpeter and composer who--emerging in the early '60s on albums by extant jazz stars like Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner and Horace Silver, and contributing to on-the-rise names including Larry Young and Chick Corea--has all-too-often been overlooked. Still, with younger horn players like Alex Sipiagin releasing tribute albums like Generations (Criss Cross, 2010), it's clear that, for some, the trumpeter's impact and influence ...

Mal Waldron: Mal Waldron Quintets

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 26, 2012

Mal Waldron ha attraversato la storia del jazz con discrezione e determinazione. Il suo pianismo, partito da Monk, si è indirizzato su una strada ricca di varianti, che annodava in modo robusto blues e astrazione, con un formidabile istinto ritmico e timbrico. Ne ricordiamo le collaborazioni con Charles Mingus e con Max Roach, con Coltrane e Billie Holiday. Soprattutto con Steve Lacy, insieme al quale ha scandagliato il repertorio di Monk ed Ellington con raro acume e creatività. Il cofanetto ...

Jackie McLean: Demon's Dance

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 17, 2007

Jackie McLean è stato, oltre che magnifico sassofonista e compositore, un testimone chiave della storia del jazz moderno. Fin dall’adolescenza ha frequentato infatti protagonisti come Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, figurando spesso in incisioni significative di questi autori. In veste di leader, ha vissuto molti cambiamenti stilistici e, pur fedele al linguaggio della tradizione legata al blues, ha spesso raccolto le sfide innovative dei fautori del free. Il suo acuminato eloquio al sax alto, spesso associato al ...

Woody Shaw: Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard

by John Kelman
October 29, 2005

It's one thing to play the right note, it's another to get it; one thing to play a phrase, another to get to its essence. With academic jazz education more accessible than ever, countless aspiring musicians are learning its vernacular. But music, like all art, is more than technique--it's an indefinable truth that can only come from complete immersion and commitment. Learn the language, but without getting on the bandstand every night, playing with as many people in as many ...

Woody Shaw: Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard

by Jim Santella
October 3, 2005

Live straight-ahead jazz doesn't get much better than these two nights when Woody Shaw brought his quintet into the Village Vanguard in August 1978. Trumpet and saxophone improvise with forceful confidence, piano provides the glue that keeps them in a tightly- knit affair, and the rhythmic team of bass and drums exudes a propelling force.

Shaw's inspiring voice introduces “In a Capricornian Way" and provides leadership. His horn leads from a different perspective as the quintet swells with ...

Woody Shaw: Live Volume Four

by John Kelman
June 29, 2005

Live Volume Four continues HighNote's ongoing series of live recordings from Todd Barkan's Keystone Korner club from the late '70s and early '80s. While trumpeter Woody Shaw never received the accolades he was due during his relatively short life--he died in '89 at the age of 44--these live recordings paint a picture of an innovator who simply was not fully appreciated.

Given the plethora of players informed by the late Miles Davis, Shaw's influence may not be as acute, but ...