There's a point in Ken Burns'
2-parts-enlightening-to-1-part-frustrating documentary Jazz where
Branford Marsalis, who should know better, states that around 1975 "Jazz
just kind of died." Even allowing that he rules Miles Davis' music of the
era outside the jazz spectrum and has no use for the vibrant avant-garde scene
of the time there's no excuse for him ignoring Woody Shaw, who in 1977 followed
his rising star on a series of stellar albums for the Muse label (most notably
the regrettably out of print The Moontrane and The Iron Men) to
release Rosewood, his major label debut for Columbia Records. What
Marsalis means is that as a commercial force, jazz had taken a definitive back
seat to rock music and R&B and this is a true statement, but as a music
between the New York's loft scene, Chicago's Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians and albums like Rosewood (plus Miles Davis’ music
through 1975, I would argue), Marsalis shouldn't have been to quick to lament
the demise of the music.
Woody Shaw spent the 1960's playing
alongside such giants of the music as Eric Dolphy, Larry Young, Horace Silver,
Pharoah Sanders, Art Blakey, Andrew Hill and others and learned from them how
to incorporate all styles of music and subsume them to the jazz he wanted to
make. So while this could easily be described as a kind of post-bop jazz record
with all the bracing energy and tuneful forms of the style, Shaw is unafraid to
use colors borrowed from Miles’ “fusion” advances (in the form of electric
piano), and “free” music, in the form of following Eric Dolphy’s lead in
playing “inside and outside at the same time.” Nothing here is too “out” to
scare off unwary listeners and every tune sports a melody worth humming along
to, in addition to great playing all around. Especially great are “Rahsaan’s
Run” a tribute to another hugely underrated jazz player, Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
who did terrific work when jazz had supposedly “died,” and the lovely
“Sunshowers.” But every track here showcases the sextet in peak form, with Shaw
himself definitively leading things, though certainly allotting space to his
worthy cohorts, particularly saxophonist Joe Henderson and drummer Victor
Lewis. Included after the album reissue are three more tracks from a subsequent
session for Columbia that’s unlikely to make its way to CD any time soon, but
proves beyond a doubt that this man carried the torch of jazz – however you’d
like to define it – in fine form.
- Patrick
Brown
1 comment:
What is also little know is that Wynton Marsalis received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to "study" with Woody Shaw. There's even a recording of them playing together where Woody let him sit in.
Not only was Woody the leading innovator on the instrument during the 1970s, he was, as you say, the one who successfully weaved together the entire history of the music into a new and original style without the use of gimmicks or an abundance of media coverage in his favor. The Marsalises and those who follow owe Shaw a debt of gratitude for keeping jazz strong and relevant throughout the 1970s. The only thing Shaw lacked was the publicity and the mainstream recognition that the Marsalises later got and, some would say, abused. Shaw earned his stripes and paved the way for many to come.
Listen to Woody and Wynton at the following link: http://woodyshaw.com/woody-and-wynton-nows-the-time/
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