Talkin’ about WOODY SHAW…

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Clearing thro the racks to welcome the new year of minimalist austerity, I came upon Woody Shaw’s multi-award winning "Rosewood" album (Columbia)

I’ve always been in two minds about this one. Although being a big admirer of Shaw from his B/Note work with Jackie, Horace and Larry Young, this album has always struck me as somewhat over-produced (Cashuna) and "surface glossy" with the (mild) fusion feel of its time. But on listening to it afresh I find it really sticking in my mind. A fine band and concert group in support, and with Joe Henderson, the perfect solo foil. Shaw is totally assured and pulls off some thoughtful gems in a very unflashy way.

Woody had a real case of the “jazz life” and a VERY tragic end. It’s sad that he now seems so overlooked.

BN.

Taking about overlooked trumpet players, I also picked up a Red Rodney quintet set from 1957 (Savoy) over Xmas. A revelation. Some wonderful playing for anyone who thinks of him as only with Bird.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Happy New Year El Senor


....yep have the Shaw and a Red Rodney form the mid fifties that impresses the **** out of me, will have to research i saw another Red R album looked good, think on emusic ...

[Ian Thumwood]

Bluesnik / Calum

I tried to search out some Woody Shaw last year but much of his work was no longer in the catalogue. This now seems to have been rectified as a label called "Wounded bird" has just started re-issuing several of his records. The 1970's were often a low-point in jazz but I think Shaw was one of those artists who was at his peak at this time whose work deserves to be better appreciated. The mild fusion / jazz-rock feel to the music produced by the likes if Henderson, Hubbard, Hancock, etc of this era can be a bit off-putting as it has not stood the test of time too well albeit these records can have some great playing on them. The "gloss" of 70's production does seem to reek havoc with these records but I feel that some 1980's albums also have the veneer of "post-production" on them which also places them well and truly in their era too.

I have Volume II of one of the Real Books and this includes plenty of material from the 1970's and the clunkiness combined with the technical difficulty in playing much of this music means that it rarely gets opened. The most interesting material seems to be by Woody Shaw but the writing is hard to play abeit you can quickly appreciate the intelligence within the composition. It is impressive in a similar way to another trumpeter / composer's work, that of Tom Harrell. I feel Harrell is a brilliant player and a writer of true merit. Not being familiar with Shaw's work, I have always had the impression that he was of similar stature . Shaw is little appreciated these days andf the only player I can recall singing his praises is Ingrid Jenson and she was commenting on the fact that Shaw had become unfashionable for no good reason!

There was an interesting comment in the John Scofield "Jazz Libarary" where the guitarist suggested that jazz had only really come to grips with rock / fusion / hiphop within the last 10-15 years with artists like MMW realising how to whole-heartedly use these influences in a manner that did not compromise the integrity nor adventurous spirit of jazz. With much jazz in 1970's, I think the best attempts were by the likes of Herbie Hancock but much of the attempts at taking on board the contemporary influences of the time either seem a complete disaster or maybe were just instances of "dabbling" whereby the music would have been better to have just got on with playing straight ahead jazz. I haven't heard much Woody Shaw, but I sense he would definately have fallen in to the second category. A recent review of a compliation of 1980's Miles on "All about jazz" also picked up the same issue alluded to by Scofield and the reviewer was extremely critical of Davis insofar was his endeavours to be "hip" actually mean't that he was well behind the curve as far as where jazz was going 20-20 years ago. Maybe a more successful attempt would be Dave Douglas' group "Keystone" which pitches a trumpet / tenor/ fender rhodes / bass /drums quintet with D J Olive's inspired use of samples / sound landscape where hip-hop grooves melt in with contemporary jazz ones and the electronic "noises" are employed in a harmonic and percussive role. For me, this works extremely well , D J Olive almost been the equivalent to Ellington's Sonny Greer with the role he plays in the music. In Shaw's day, the ability to think in the manner of Douglas was not prevalent and the technology was not available either. Listening to this music being so successful only emphasizes that they should have just got on with playing pure, unadulterated jazz in the 1970's. The success of "Keystone " or "MMW" demonstrates that it is much better to jump straight in to this kind of music as opposed to the "dabbling" of the 1970's generation. Obviously, there are now plenty of other bands who have followed in their wake.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Woody Shaw, the imaginitive "post-bop" jazz trumpeter and composer whose left arm was severed in February in a mysterious subway accident, died of kidney failure Wednesday after a long illness. He was 44.

Shaw, whose eyesight had been declining for a decade, tumbled down a stairway Feb. 27 onto the tracks at Brooklyn's Dekalb Avenue subway station where a train struck him, severing his arm. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where his condition deteriorated and he was stricken by pneumonia. Although his pneumonia abated, he continued to suffer kidney pain and died of kidney failure, said his father, Woody Shaw Sr." - NYT May 11. 1989.

BN.

He was living with his parents and recovering from "substance abuse" (he shared Chet Baker's Belgian "chemist" at one point). Max Roach (a major fan and former employer ) asked him to come and hear his new group and arranged a taxi home from the club for him (Shaw was almost blind at this point). Woody disappeared at the intermission and was later found on the rail track...

Woody Shaw once saw himself as the "Coltrane of the trumpet". Bobby Hutcherson also saw him in that way. Even Miles was moved..."he's doing something different..."
VERY Sad.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

IAN ~ "Trumpeter Dave Douglas states: "It's not only the brilliant imagination that captivates with Woody Shaw - it's how natural those fiendishly difficult lines feel... Woody Shaw is now one of the most revered figures for trumpeters today"

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Bluesnik

Not at all surprised that Douglas digs Woody Shaw although I think he is probably exagerating to suggest that WS is now very much revered. There are some great clips of Woody Shaw on Youtube with some cracking bands. No 70's fusion here, just timeless, great music. Wynton never cooked as hard as some of these tracks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6q1Xs1CW2w&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbdFOhM30RM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvnIIr1sv_c&feature=related

Never hjeard of Carter Jefferson before but he could certainly play!

Incidentally, I was thinking about just how many trumpet players there have been in jazz who (in my opinion) have equal stature as composers. Usually you think of jazz composers as traditionally being pianists with saxophonists also adding to the repertoire. However, I think the likes of Buck Clayton, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Douglas, Tom Harrell and Shaw would all have made a name for themselves even if they hadn't picked up their horns.
Cheers

Ian

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Ian ~ thanks for the clips. Yes Jefferson had chops - and on his quintet tracks with Woody on "Rosewood" shows a strong Joe Henderson influence, so much so that Cook/Morton confuse the two in their praise for the album.

As to trumpeters/composers - I would have though that Kenny Dorham would would have been a prime example. Not just the inevitable "Blue Bossa" but a raft of other very fine and intelligent material that should be better known. Ck/out "Whistle Stop" (1961) with "Sunrise in Mexico", "Epitaph" etc. There were outline plans for Carnegie Hall concerts of Kenny's stuff with Leonard Bernstein but it all fell through. Dorham was also a big influence on Woody, not least for "always pushing for something new"

I find Kenny a wonderful player and incidently, a VERY perceptive critic - His stuff for Downbeat in the '60s is well worth finding if you can.

BN.

[Tenor Freak]

I'll second the recommendation for Whistle Stop. It may be a hard bop date, but Dorham goes the extra mile with his compositions even where, such as on "Windmill", the blowing is over standard changes (in this case "Sweet Georgia Brown"). It's his refusal to simply accept the lowest common denominator that puts Dorham in the front rank of composers; the head arrangements aren't just throwaway. I also enjoy his plangent tone and melodic ideas. The rest of the band are excellent too - Mobley of course, and the always-wonderful Philly Joe who even now is one of my favourite drummers because of the sparkiness of his playing, not to mention his swing.

Getting back to Woody Shaw: he's another one who I don't think led a Blue Note date, though he pops up from time to time on some great albums such as Larry Young's "Unity" and Tyrone Washington's "Natural Essence" where he has a really fat tone. It really is one of the music's losses that he died so young.