Woody Shaw Praises Terry Bozzio

[DukeCity]

...I dunno...he's just a fusion guy. I used to be into that kind of stuff. I wonder what he'd sound like with a little set...cymbal, snare, hi-hat, bass and one mounted tom - playing straight ahead.

Well, we now know that he worked w/Woody Shaw in California, and apparently quite well, at some point before 1975.

I don't think I've read this Woody profile since 1975, long before I would have known who Terry Bozzio was. So imagine my near-total shock when I was reading this yesterday & saw Terry Bozzio listed as a drummer with whom Woody Shaw had enjoyed playing.

Yep.

Still..I wonder what he'd sound like.

Maybe I misread the article (just a quick look), but I didn't see where Shaw said he played with Bozzio. I think he said he just heard him and "I wish I had him".

No doubt, it would have been an interesting pairing...

Re: the side discussion about the size of Bozzio's drum set-up. While I understand the impulse to want to hear what he could really play sitting behind a normal drum kit, hey it is what it is. Having lots of drums/cymbals does provide some different sounds/colors (not that there aren't plenty to be found in smaller set-ups), the same way that a synth can do so many more things than a piano or organ. And a big part of what made him fit so well in the Zappa stuff was the over-the-topness of both his playing and his rig. All part of the show.

[7/4]

I'd still like to hear him with less drums.

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[JSngry]

Maybe I misread the article (just a quick look), but I didn't see where Shaw said he played with Bozzio. I think he said he just heard him and "I wish I had him".

Point well taken. I was just assuming that there had been at least some interaction, if only a gig or two, to elicit such a response, but you are correct, that is not necessarily so.

[DukeCity]

I'd still like to hear him with less drums.

.

And I'd still like to hear what Woody Shaw could have really done with a bugle, instead using all those flashy valves...

[7/4]

I'd still like to hear him with less drums.

.

And I'd still like to hear what Woody Shaw could have really done with a bugle, instead using all those flashy valves...

Unless there's a recording, it's not gonna happen. There's still time for little Terry Ted Bozzio to show us what he can do on the small set.

I generally don't have any issues with him, but boy was he the wrong drummer to replace Bruford in UK.

[DukeCity]

Maybe I misread the article (just a quick look), but I didn't see where Shaw said he played with Bozzio. I think he said he just heard him and "I wish I had him".

Point well taken. I was just assuming that there had been at least some interaction, if only a gig or two, to elicit such a response, but you are correct, that is not necessarily so.

And it turns out, your assumption was correct! From the Terry Bozzio page on the Vic Firth website: "Terry's background began in 1971, when he graduated from the College of Marin with a degree in music. From there, he played with the local Marin and Napa Symphonies. This exposure landed him gigs with many top jazz musicians at the time, including Pete Escovedo, Art Lande, Eddie Henderson, Julian Priester and Woody Shaw."

[JSngry]

Well fuck me naked & call me a cab, Calloway!

[analogak]

and he was on a luis gasca disc, maybe even participating on a bad version of "a love supreme".

[Hot Ptah]

I saw Bozzio in November, 1975, with Frank Zappa, in a curious unit of the Zappa band. This edition could barely get through the vocals. Most of the members played extended improvisational solos. Bozzio's drumming was tasteful in this context, at this relatively early stage of his career.

The Zappa band in question included Andre Lewis on electric piano and other keyboards, Norma Jean Bell on soprano sax (she was a timid singer but played a surprisingly good long solo on soprano sax), Napolean Murphy Brock on tenor sax, Roy Estrada on bass, Zappa and Bozzio.

The concert ended with a very long "Chunga's Revenge" on which everyone but Estrada played long solos. I remember that Zappa's solo was the most beautiful I ever heard him play, and that Bozzio played an interesting drum solo. Zappa introduced his solo section as "now featuring your favorite, John McLaughlin on guitar!" and introduced Bozzio's solo with "your new Alphonse Mouzon, it's Terry Bozzio!"

[Elissa]

Distracted from distraction by distracton: Dale has a kitty issue.

[7/4]

That's awful.

I saw the story, but the description of the conditions is awful. I hope they clear this up...poor kittys.

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[Gheorghe]

I didn´t know who is Terry Bozzio, but I really admire Woody Shaw. During a time when Miles had retired and nobody thought he might start to play again, and Dizzy (with all my greatest respect for him) had started to play the same things over and over again with a very thin group (g, el-bass, dm), Woody Shaw was my idea of a perfect trumpet player. His group with Mulgrew Miller, Tony Reedus etc. was incredible.

I would have liked to read that whole interview, because it really reveals some interesting facts (Woody first saying he never thought he would employ a white musician, then discovering that most blacks at the coast during that time didn´t really know how to play the music). And something that´s now more true then ever: Young musicians gettin´to much to early without having paid their dues....

Woody refers to "a former habit" and that he managed to kick it.

It really made me so sad to see Woody for the last time. It was in Europe and I couldn´t believe that t h e o n e a n d o n l y

Woody Shaw would be on a small, shabby stage playing with some semi-professional locals, doing old standards (real-book stuff usually played by generations of students, amateur jazz lovers etc.) and naturally sounding very uninspired. That was one of the saddest things to see Woody like that, when I saw him just a few years earlier in concert halls, playing his own music with his own musicians, each of them being a topnotch musician.....

Since I don´t know about a Terry Bozzio, I couldn´t contribute more concretly to that thread, but I tried to tell some of my impressions about Woody Shaw.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

you saw missing persons in LA in the early 80s? AWESOME!!!