Woody 'n' Me

Woody's deep into it

I love Woody Shaw.

Every time someone starts going on about how Miles Davis is the one and only trumpet god (remember when Tim went on about that? The whole Dark Prince thing?) I sputter and say Louis Armstrong! Art Farmer! Lee Morgan! Charles Tolliver! And of course, Woody Shaw!

My love for Woody came from his recordings with other leaders including Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, the early 1970s incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, and especially Mal Waldron's amazing "The Seagulls of Kristiansund" (Soul Note, 1987), which I will have to write about in detail some time soon.

I love that Live at the Village Vanguard album and it marks another concert that I wish I would have attended. I wish I could have sat there and had a dry vodka martini (does the Vanguard make a decent martini?) and let myself get pulled away by the 26 minute title track.

one of my favourites

Woody's playing is fresh and modern and to my ears, his songwriting places him near the top of jazz composers.

As I write this, I'm listening to "Night Music", which was the first album by Woody that I ever owned. The track is Orange Crescent. It's a great place to start. The fact that the great Bobby Hutcherson guests on the album certainly helps. Steve Turre, who might be the best trombonist you've never heard of, also adds some melodic fire.

Woody's recordings under his own name came in the 1970s and 1980s when jazz was starting (or continuing) its decline in popularity. I think that's the only reason he isn't a legend. Well, he's a legend to me. He was consistently strong and he put out some incredible albums including "The Moontrane" (Muse, 1974), "Little Red's Fantasy" (Muse, 1976) and any of the live albums he recorded. His Columbia recordings are also musts. "Rosewood" (1978), "Stepping Stones" (1979), "Woody III" (1979) "For Sure!" (1980) and "Untitled" (1981).

This is creative, energetic, beautiful music and I urge you to sample some of the riches that he left for us.

This is quite a list of incredible music, and all the more amazing is that he put it all out there before the age of 44, when he died tragically, but let's not talk about his sad end, okay? Let's focus on the music.