Woody Shaw
| Woody Shaw | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Woody Herman Shaw, Jr. |
| Born |
December 24, 1944 Laurinburg, North Carolina, United States |
| Origin | Newark, New Jersey, United States |
| Died | May 10, 1989 (aged 44) Manhattan, New York City, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, bebop, hard bop, post-bop, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, bandleader, composer, educator |
| Instruments | Trumpet, flugelhorn, cornet |
| Years active | 1963–1989 |
| Labels | Columbia, Muse, Elektra, Blue Note, Fantasy, Contemporary, Concord Music Group |
| Associated acts | Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Horace Silver, Max Roach, Andrew Hill, Lionel Hampton, Chick Corea, Pharoah Sanders, Joe Zawinul, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Louis Hayes, Hank Mobley, Mal Waldron, Tyrone Washington, Larry Young |
| Website | woodyshaw.com |
Woody Herman Shaw, Jr. (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was an American virtuoso trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, described by NPR Music as "the last great trumpet innovator".
Shaw is regarded as one of the great jazz band leaders and innovators of his generation. Born with a photographic memory and perfect pitch, he was considered to have been generations ahead of his time.
Woody Shaw was born on December 24, 1944 in Laurinburg, North Carolina. He was taken to Newark, New Jersey by his parents, Rosalie Pegues and Woody Shaw, Sr., when he was one year old. Shaw's father was a member of the African American gospel group known as the 'Diamond Jubilee Singers' and both his parents attended the same secondary private school as Dizzy Gillespie: Laurinburg Institute. Shaw's mother was from the same town as Gillespie: Cheraw, South Carolina.
Shaw began playing the bugle at age nine and performed in the Junior Elks, Junior Mason, and Washington Carver Drum and Bugle Corps in Newark. Though not his first choice of instrument, he began studying classical trumpet with Jerome Ziering at Cleveland Junior High School at the age of 11. In a 1978 interview, Shaw explained:
The trumpet was not my first choice for an instrument. In fact, I ended up playing it by default. When we were asked what we wanted to play in the Eighteenth Avenue School Band, I chose the violin, but I was too late since all the violins were taken. My second choice was the saxophone or the trombone but they were also all spoken for. The only instrument that was left was the trumpet, and I felt why did I have to get stuck with this "tinny" sounding thing.
When I complained to my music teacher that I didn't think it was fair that all the other kids got to play the instruments they wanted, he told me to just be patient. He said he had a good feeling about me and the trumpet, and he assured me I'd grow to love it. Of course my teacher was right, and it didn't take long for me to fall in love with the trumpet. In retrospect, I believe there was some mystical force that brought us together.
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Wikipedia