WOODY SHAW

Woody Herman Shaw II (December 24, 1944May 10, 1989 — died at age 44) was a jazz trumpeter and composer. Shaw grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began his study of music at the age of 11, later attending Newark Arts High School. Shaw had the misfortune of coming into his own as a band leader during the early 1970s, a time when interest in acoustic jazz was at a low ebb and even many of Shaw’s idols were forsaking traditional jazz to explore jazz-rock fusion. Shaw saw himself as an heir to the musical tradition of great trumpeters such as Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, and Clifford Brown, and felt determined to uphold the highest artistic standards despite a relative lack of commercial success. He released several albums on the small Muse label, then in 1978 was signed to Columbia Records and recorded the albums Rosewood, Stepping Stones, Woody III, For Sure, and United. Rosewood was nominated for 2 Grammys and was voted Best Jazz Album of 1978 in the Down Beat Reader’s Poll, which also voted Woody Shaw Best Jazz Trumpeter of the Year and #4 Jazz Musician of the Year.

Throughout the 1980s Shaw continued performing and recording as a leader with sidemen such as pianists Onaje Allan Gumbs, Mulgrew Miller, and Larry Willis, bassist David Williams, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, and trombonist Steve Turre among others. During this time he also worked on projects with saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Dexter Gordon, as well as fellow trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Shaw is often credited with developing an improvisational approach based on larger intervals, like fourths and fifths, instead of the smaller intervals more easily playable on the trumpet.