Happy Birthday Woody Shaw!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sonnyhill]

Woody Herman Shaw, Jr. was born today (Christmas Eve) in 1944. 

 

Currently playing:

 

Blackstone Legacy  - Contemporary (1970) 

[Hardbopjazz]

Happy Birthday to one of the greats. He left us too early. Now should be his time. 

 

[sonnyhill]

Out of all of the High Note recordings, I like this one best. 

[sonnyhill]

[Gheorghe]

Yes, just recently my wife bought me "Bemsha Swing" for my own birthday 11 days ago. Just a fantastic album and everybody sounds great on it.

I saw Woody when he was on the peak of the movement and had that fantastic group with Steve Turré , Mulgrew Miller, Stafford James and the fantastic Tony Reedus. It was the band he recorded and toured with at least until 1983.

I never understood how things went bad for him, that he was forced to tour as a single. On that 1986 date he was lucky to have great musicians like Gary Allen, Bob Hurst and Roy Brooks, but on other occasions I saw him with mediocre musicians and it was sad.

He was one of the greatest trumpet players, his sound, his power, his approach of the music. His compositions.

I noticed, that in later years he concentrated more on standards than on his own originals.

One of my favourite compositions of him is "Sweet Love of Mine". Strange..... without remembering that it´s arround his birthday, I played that tune on piano 2 days ago......

Maybe without knowing, this was my way of remembering him......

[soulpope]

[Gheorghe]

22 hours ago, soulpope said:

I think this one was one of the last recordings, even one year later than "Bemsha Swing". It must have been around the time Woody Shaw appeared at Jazzland, at a very very late stage of his career. Woody had consumed many many of those little Underberg-bottles before being led on stage. Needless to say he sounded quite sad.

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, Gheorghe said:

I think this one was one of the last recordings, even one year later than "Bemsha Swing". It must have been around the time Woody Shaw appeared at Jazzland, at a very very late stage of his career. Woody had consumed many many of those little Underberg-bottles before being led on stage. Needless to say he sounded quite sad.

I remember this Jazzland gig too and share your view .... nevertheless these Swiss Live recordings are quite wonderful .... 

[Gheorghe]

2 hours ago, soulpope said:

I remember this Jazzland gig too and share your view .... nevertheless these Swiss Live recordings are quite wonderful .... 

so you were there on the same night. It was a one nighter. I remember Axel, a born optimist,  had this worried look. You say swiss live recording. I remember one year later in 88 there was an announce in JazzPodium about Woody that he became ill and cannot play and to donate money into a swiss bank account. But this was before Woody´s fatal accident.....I´ve always hoped that Woody might rally ....

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

so you were there on the same night. It was a one nighter. I remember Axel, a born optimist,  had this worried look.

Don't remember any details (like other musicians etc) but Woody Shaw's performance was shaky to say the least ....

[felser]

On 12/24/2017 at 11:44 AM, sonnyhill said:

Woody Herman Shaw, Jr. was born today (Christmas Eve) in 1944. 

 

Currently playing:

 

Blackstone Legacy  - Contemporary (1970) 

I remember going to great lengths to acquire that album back in the day ca. '73-74.  Well worth the effort.   

[mr jazz]

Glad I saw him once live with a great band right after Rosewood was released. Stunning performance even to a naive college student.

[Rooster_Ties]

On 12/25/2017 at 3:08 AM, soulpope said:

Of all of Woody's 80's output specifically, this is probably my single favorite of his 80's albums.

Never cared for Bemsha Swing a whole ton, though I haven't heard it in years. Can't remember my beef with it, but maybe the specific tunes was at least part of it, iirc. A little too much Monk, maybe.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Rooster_Ties

[sidewinder]

Neil Swainson’s ‘49th Parallel’ on Concord is one of his best latter sessions. In fact I first heard that one around the time of hearing the sad news of his passing.

Not that much of a fan of ‘Bemsha Swing’ either.

Edited December 26, 2017 by sidewinder

[felser]

This is THE Woody Shaw album for me, though I appreciate many others:

[Rooster_Ties]

8 hours ago, felser said:

This is THE Woody Shaw album for me, though I appreciate many others:

Amen to that. My all-time favorite Woody Shaw album, bar none. Absolute highest recommendation.

[sidewinder]

and the best sonic version of that one is in the Mosaic set. 

[uli]

 

[Gheorghe]

On ‎30‎.‎12‎.‎2017 at 6:35 PM, uli said:

 

This one might be the greatest thing and I really was glad when it started, but after a few minutes there are some strange symbols on the screen and they don´t get away. I found the video on you tube also but it also has those strange symbols on the whole screen. That´s really a disappointment.

This almost two hours of music should be published on DVD, or just as a music CD. Two giants like that together, that´s an historic moment. I really hope it will be possible to enjoy it without those annoying symbols.

[Milestones]

Woody Shaw is not an artist I know all that well.  He always seemed under the radar, and although he was releasing plenty of good stuff in the 80s, it was not easy for me to find or hear his stuff.  Of course, he appears on quite a few Blue Note dates, including some real classics--I  suppose most would point to Unity by Larry Young.

 I know Steve Turre was in Woody's band for quite some time, and I am particularly interested in hearing those releases.  

[sidewinder]

Not sure about under the radar in the 1980s - that was the time I saw him and at least in Europe, he seemed to be regularly touring. I can say that up to 1983 at least - and with Turre - his playing was A1.

[kh1958]

I saw him in 1984. He sounded great. Steve Turre was the other horn.

[uli]

On 1/15/2018 at 10:09 PM, Gheorghe said:

This one might be the greatest thing and I really was glad when it started, but after a few minutes there are some strange symbols on the screen and they don´t get away. I found the video on you tube also but it also has those strange symbols on the whole screen. That´s really a disappointment.

This almost two hours of music should be published on DVD, or just as a music CD. Two giants like that together, that´s an historic moment. I really hope it will be possible to enjoy it without those annoying symbols.

i dig this set a lot. am listening to it  again. i don't see any strange symbols. besides the leaders also great playing by john hicks, reggie johnson and alvin queen.

[king ubu]

This here seems to be the most active thread on Woody Shaw ... so two questions:

1) what's this (just announced by CDJapan, there is a 1975 Dexter Gordon item, too)?

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KKJ-1029

2) are there two albums w/Tone Jansa, or how does this relate to the rather well-known "Dr. Chi"?

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/CDSOL-6359

[jazzbo]

1. Don't know what this is but for me it's cheaper via amazon and I ordered it a few days ago.

2. These two are different performances:

https://www.discogs.com/Woody-Shaw-With-Tone-Jansa-Quartet-Woody-Shaw-With-Tone-Jansa-Quartet/release/8774207

https://www.discogs.com/Tone-Jan%C5%A1a-Kvartet-Featuring-Woody-Shaw-Dr-Chi/release/9967284

Edited May 20, 2018 by jazzbo