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Woody Shaw

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Gladden, Larry Young, and Grachan Moncur III. His first and perhaps greatest inspiration, in terms of the trumpet, came from listening to Louis Armstrong and, not long after, Clifford Brown.

Woody found out later that he had picked up the trumpet during the same month and year that Brown passed away. This was an auspicious sign for him and he felt that there was a "higher" reason for this; that it confirmed a deeper connection and purpose regarding his place within the lineage of the trumpet masters. His other primary influences were, of course, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and Lee Morgan. Woody particularly felt a strong connection to Dizzy because of the fact that his father (Woody, Sr.) and Dizzy had gone to high school together at Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. Woody Shaw, Sr. had been a Gospel singer with the Diamond Jubilee Singers in the 1930s.

In 1963, after many local professional jobs, Woody worked for Willie Bobo (with Chick Corea and Joe Farrell) and also performed and recorded as a sideman with Eric Dolphy. The following year, Dolphy invited Shaw to join him in Paris, however, Dolphy suddenly died shortly before Shaw's departure. He decided to make the trip nonetheless, and found steady work in Paris with close friend Nathan Davis and such musicians as Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, and Art Taylor.

In 1963 Woody performed frequently in Paris, Berlin, and London with a group that included Nathan Davis, Larry Young, and Billy Brooks. Young, Brooks, and Shaw were childhood friends back in Newark, and they would further develop their rapport as friends and as musicians when Shaw finally brought them to France that same year. The following year, Shaw returned to the U.S. to play in Horace Silver's quintet (1965-1966) and eventually recorded with Chick Corea (1966-1967), Jackie McLean (1967), Booker Ervin (1968), McCoy Tyner (1968), and Andrew Hill (1969). In 1968-69 he worked intermittently with Max Roach, with whom he appeared at a festival in Iran, and during the same period he began to work as a studio musician and in pit orchestras for Broadway musicals.

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The Vinyl Post

Blackstone Legacy

Read "Blackstone Legacy" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


When trumpeter Woody Shaw passed away in 1989, he left behind a wealth of amazing music, notwithstanding the realized sadness inherent in wondering what more he could have accomplished had he lived a longer life. Back in the mid '60s, Shaw was ubiquitous as a sideman recording iconic albums with the likes of Larry Young, Horace Silver, Chick Corea, Art Blakey, and McCoy Tyner. Despite common misconceptions, Shaw led his first date as a leader in December of 1965, which ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Live? From the Village Vanguard

Read "Live? From the Village Vanguard" reviewed by Patrick Burnette


There are many storied jazz venues, but for a great recorded legacy, none quite matches the Village Vanguard. So many epochal improvised moments put to tape! So many clinking wine glasses captured for eternity! Such a matchless, smoky atmosphere of creation in the heat of the moment! (Insert record scratch here.) The boys don't look at the best known monuments from the place, but rather start with a lesser known session from the end of the seventies and then examine ...

Album Review

Horace Silver: Live New York Revisited

Read "Live New York Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


Benchè il profilo artistico di Horace Silver sia preso a modello in modo paradigmatico per definire lo stile hard bop nel jazz moderno, è altresì interessante notare come Silver, sin dalle sue prime uscite, abbia sempre cercato di evitare gli schemi predeterminati che soprattutto le etichette discografiche cercavano di replicare dopo aver trovato la formula del successo. Ad esempio, Silver non amava le scalette miste, quelle cioè che infilavano d'abitudine uno standard proveniente da Tin Pan Alley all'interno di un ...

18
Album Review

Horace Silver Quintet: Live New York Revisited

Read "Live New York Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


This fabulous album, recorded during three New York club engagements in 1964, 1965 and 1966, ranks among the finest in the pianist/composer's illustrious catalogue. There are several things going for it: the quality and shared intentionality of the two, slightly different, lineups; the choice of material and its careful sequencing; the vibrancy of the performances, which is enough to practically raise the dead; and the quality of the CD mastering by the ezz-thetics label's sonic jedi Michael Brändli, whose work ...

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Album Review

Joe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions

Read "The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions" reviewed by Scott Gudell


If an artist stamps his jazz passport with any one of these labels--Blue Note, Verve, Milestone--it's pretty much a guarantee that you've arrived in style. Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson has traveled with all three and more. The 2021 reissue from the prestigious Mosaic Records focuses on Henderson's 1960s tenure with Blue Note offers a new opportunity to experience an abundance of rich and creative jazz from the decade. Big band and bop were duking it out in the ...

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Album Review

Roy Brooks: Understanding

Read "Understanding" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Il doppio compact di Roy Brooks pubblicato da qualche giorno (anche in lussuoso triplo vinile e in versione digitale) non è solo un tributo a uno dei massimi batteristi dei decenni sessanta/ottanta. Registrato il 1° novembre 1970 a Baltimora, presenta uno dei concerti più esaltanti del jazz contemporaneo, un hard bop intriso d'avanguardia—in particolare John Coltrane—che si sviluppa con intensità febbrile per due ore. Il merito va al misconosciuto batterista di Detroit e al suo quintetto comprendente Woody Shaw alla ...

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Album Review

Roy Brooks: Understanding

Read "Understanding" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Roy Brooks was a preeminent hard-bop drummer who early on participated in seminal recording dates led by Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef and Sonny Stitt. In this release entitled Understanding, produced by Cory Weeds and Zev Feldman for Reel To Real Records, Brooks is documented live by The Left Bank Jazz Society at The Famous Ballroom in Baltimore on November 1, 1970. The limited-edition 180 gram 3-LP gatefold set of previously unreleased material, features a stellar band including trumpeter Woody Shaw, ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

1

Recording

Woody Shaw: The Tour Vol. 2

Woody Shaw: The Tour Vol. 2

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In July 2016, I posted about a previously unreleased live album by the Louis Hayes-Junior Cook Quintet featuring Woody Shaw. It was recorded in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 22, 1976. The excellent album was entitled The Tour: Volume One, which teased the release of subsequent installments. Well, That day has arrived. The Tour: Volume Two, was recently released and it's even better than the first, if that's possible. It was recorded in March 1976 at a series of European concert ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

Recording

Woody Shaw: The Tour, Vol. 1

Woody Shaw: The Tour, Vol. 1

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Let's stick with 1976. Yesterday I posted about Dolo Coker's California Hard, a superb album recorded by the pianist for Xanadu in December of that year. Today, let's dig a newly released album by a working band formed by drummer Louis Hayes in '76 to tour Europe. The live album, Woody Shaw and Louis Hayes: The Tour, Volume One (High Note), was recorded in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 22, 1976. Recorded at the height of the jazz-rock fusion movement—when mysticism, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today! Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. on December 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw and Woody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shaw attended Arts High School in Newark where he studied trumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newark has a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists are originally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, ...

Terry Gordon
trumpet
Jake Hanlon
guitar
Ian Dogole
percussion
Tim Hagans
trumpet
Brian Lynch
trumpet
Brownman
trumpet
Brad Felt
euphonium
Scott Reeves
trombone
Chet Chwalik
trumpet
Bobby Stern
saxophone, tenor
Chris Pitts
saxophone, tenor
Alex Moxon
guitar, electric
Elliot Bild
trumpet
Jun Iida
trumpet
Jay Reed
guitar
Matthew Storie
saxophone
Jerry Tabor
guitar
Daev Keli
piano
FOUR
band / ensemble / orchestra

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Blackstone Legacy

Contemporary Records/Craft Recordings
2023

buy

Live New York...

Ezz-thetics
2022

buy

Understanding

Reel To Real
2021

buy

The Complete Joe...

Mosaic Records
2021

buy

The Complete Hank...

Mosaic Records
2020

buy

49th Parallel

Reel to Reel
2020

buy

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