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Woody Shaw

Woody Shaw, Jr. was born in Laurinburg, N.C. onDecember 24th, 1944 to Rosalie Pegues Shaw andWoody Shaw, Sr. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey,and began playing trumpet at the age of 11. Shawattended Arts High School in Newark where he studiedtrumpet and music theory with Jerome Ziering. Newarkhas a rich Jazz history and many notable Jazz artists areoriginally from there, including Sarah Vaughan, WayneShorter, Eddie Gladden, Larry Young, and GrachanMoncur III. His first and perhaps greatest inspiration, interms of the trumpet, came from listening to LouisArmstrong and, not long after, Clifford Brown.

Woody found out later that he had picked up the trumpetduring the same month and year that Brown passedaway. This was an auspicious sign for him and he felt thatthere was a "higher" reason for this; that it confirmed adeeper connection and purpose regarding his placewithin the lineage of the trumpet masters. His otherprimary influences were, of course, Dizzy Gillespie, FatsNavarro, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Booker Little,Freddie Hubbard, and Lee Morgan. Woody particularlyfelt a strong connection to Dizzy because of the fact thathis father (Woody, Sr.) and Dizzy had gone to highschool together at Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina.Woody Shaw, Sr. had been a Gospel singer with theDiamond Jubilee Singers in the 1930s.

In 1963, after many local professional jobs, Woodyworked for Willie Bobo (with Chick Corea and Joe Farrell)and also performed and recorded as a sideman with EricDolphy. The following year, Dolphy invited Shaw to joinhim in Paris, however, Dolphy suddenly died shortlybefore Shaw's departure. He decided to make the tripnonetheless, and found steady work in Paris with closefriend Nathan Davis and such musicians as Bud Powell,Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, and Art Taylor.

In 1963 Woody performed frequently in Paris, Berlin, andLondon with a group that included Nathan Davis, LarryYoung, and Billy Brooks. Young, Brooks, and Shaw werechildhood friends back in Newark, and they would furtherdevelop their rapport as friends and as musicians whenShaw finally brought them to France that same year. Thefollowing year, Shaw returned to the U.S. to play inHorace Silver's quintet (1965-1966) and eventuallyrecorded with Chick Corea (1966-1967), Jackie McLean(1967), Booker Ervin (1968), McCoy Tyner (1968), andAndrew Hill (1969). In 1968-69 he worked intermittentlywith Max Roach, with whom he appeared at a festival inIran, and during the same period he began to work as astudio musician and in pit orchestras for Broadwaymusicals.

Thereafter, Woody continued to record with people suchas Pharaoh Sanders, Hank Mobley, Gary Bartz, andArchie Shepp, and eventually formed a quintet with JoeHenderson in 1970 (also his fellow frontline-man inHorace Silver's group), which featured George Cables,Lenny White, and Ron Carter. From (1971-1973) Shawheld an important engagement with Art Blakey and theJazz Messengers, recording three albums for FantasyRecords ("Child's Dance," "Buhaina," and "Anthenagain")before finally settling in San Fransisco, where he co-led agroup with Bobby Hutcherson, soon after recording onHutcherson's albums: "Live at Montreux" and "Cirrus"(both on Blue Note).

Shaw returned to New York in 1975 as a member of theLouis Hayes-Junior Cook Quintet, which, after Cook'sdeparture, became the Woody Shaw-Louis HayesQuintet. Cook was soon replaced by Rene McLean, andthen by Dexter Gordon, who adopted the band for hisacclaimed "homecoming" performances in 1976. By1977, Shaw was working regularly as the sole leader ofsmall groups whose styles were oriented towards "hardbop", yet with a strong "modal" element which washeavily influenced by harmonic conceptions that werebrought forth and developed by people like JohnColtrane and McCoy Tyner.

In 1978 Shaw was signed to Columbia Records andbegan recording a series of albums which were, and stillare, considered jazz classics. Among these are albumsROSEWOOD, STEPPING STONES, WOODY III, FORSURE, & UNITED (Rosewood was voted Best JazzAlbum of 1978 in the Down Beat Reader's Poll, whichalso voted Woody Shaw Best Jazz Trumpeter of theYear and #4 Jazz Musician of the Year.)

The late 70s to early 80s would be a very prosperousperiod for Woody Shaw as a soloist, band leader,composer and also as a father; in 1978 his son, WoodyLouis Armstrong Shaw III, was born and would become akey source of inspiration for one of Shaw's mostsignificant recordings (WOODY III, named for the newborn boy). Among Woody's regular sidemen in thisperiod (1977-1983) were the saxophonist CarterJefferson; pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs; bassist StaffordJames; and drummer Victor Lewis, and from 1980 to1983 his qintet included pianist Mulgrew Miller;trombonist Steve Turre; Stafford James once again; anddrummer Tony Reedus. After touring and recording witha group of constantly changing personnel, in 1986 Shawformed a new quintet with Larry Willis (also his sidemanfrom 1979-1980), bassist David Williams, and drummerTeri Lynne Carrington.

Woody Shaw was fortunate to have had such a widerange of experiences throughout his career. This wassomething that had a significant impact on thedevelopment of his own personal style and musicalvoice. Shaw's influences ranged from Louis Armstrong toBela Bartok and yet he was able to incorporate suchvaried tastes into an extremely rooted yet completelyoriginal approach to improvisation. His approach to Jazz,and more specifically to the trumpet, is based on aunique harmonic language, which in many ways reflectshis deep love and natural affinity towards modernclassical music, as well as the direct influence of EricDolphy and John Coltrane on his conceptual andtechnical framework.

Much like Dolphy and Coltrane, Woody also felt a strongaffinity to music from Asia, Africa, and various other partsof the world, and always tried to incorporate elementsfrom many different sources into his own approach toplaying, and living (Woody was dedicated to a form ofmartial arts called Tai Chi and possessed a natural butintense affinity with Eastern philosophy and various otherspiritual practices and systems of thought. This issomething which can be said to have profoundlyenhanced his intellectual and creative abilities. WoodyShaw states: "Music is more than just notes to me....thereis a lot of emotion and life that must go into it....you mustput your experiences into it. Music is my religion"). Shawwas able to translate all of his different influences into acomepletely distinct harmonic, rhythmic, and melodiclanguage, through a process which would inevitably leadhim to expand the possibilities of his instrument, and ofmusic in general.

The latter stages (1980s) of Woody Shaw's careerincluded many new and interesting collaborations withsuch people as Kenny Garrett (Woody Shaw appears onKenny Garrett's very first recording as leader, entitledIntroducing Kenny Garrett) and Freddie Hubbard, whowas not only an early influence of Woody's but a veryclose friend of his as well. Woody and Freddie recordedthree records together during this period in dedication toClifford Brown, Fats Navarro, and Louis Armstrong("Time Speaks," "Double Take," and "The EternalTriangle"). Woody also recorded with Mal Waldron andagain with Dexter Gordon, and also toured and recordedwith the Paris Reunion Band, which featured musicianswho had previously lived and worked there, such as JoeHenderson, Johnny Griffin, Nathan Dvais, IdrisMuhammad, Jimmy Woode, Kenny Drew, and CurtisFuller. He would continue to record and tour around theworld to such places as Egypt, India, and east Asia, whilestill developing musicially and searching for new sourcesof inspiration and creativity.

Like many geniuses, however, Woody's journey wouldinvolve periods of prolonged struggle and hardship, yetthrough his sacrifice and dedication to the evolution ofJazz music, he added to the vocabulary of the trumpetand created a musical language which was all his own. Inmany ways, he is the last true innovator on his instrumentand is well established as one of the major contributors inthe line of great modern trumpet players that began withLouis Armstrong. Furthermore, Woody Shaw's earlydeparture (May 10th 1989), while tragic in many ways,considering his tremendous role as one of the leaders ofhis generation, helps us realize how much he achieved insuch a short period, and how far ahead of his time hetruly was, and still is. The scale and complexity of hisachievements are comparable to those of the greatestinnovators of modern music, and thus his contributionslive on forever as a tremendous source of learning forfuture generations, and as a true representation of thedignity which characterizes the profound legacy ofModern Jazz.

Source: Woody Shaw III

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Source: Michael Ricci
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All About Jazz is celebrating Woody Shaw's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2021

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

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2020

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

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Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2019

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

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2018

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

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2017

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

Recording

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Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Woody Shaw

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2016

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

Recording

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Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
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Birthday

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Source: Michael Ricci
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read more