Woody Shaw recommendations?

[Late]

Dexter Gordon's Homecoming is worth picking up for both Shaw's and Gordon's contributions. I wish Columbia would have gotten around to re-reissuing it with original cover art and better remastering, but at least it's still out there.

[AndrewHill]

I personally like "Demon's Dance" a lot, whereas I really have to be in the mood for some of Jackie's more "out" sessions. DD strikes a nice balance, IMO, semi-adventurous just like me... Maybe that is why I like Woody's "Moontrane" so much, it is in a similar vein.

Thanks for all the tips folks!

For Jackie's more 'out' sessions, you're probably thinking of 'Bout Soul which was recorded just a couple of months before Demon's Dance, but I wouldn't avoid it because there's some more great Woody Shaw on it. He plays on all but one track (Dear Nick, Dear John?) I can see the point about Demon's Dance being a 'step backwards'. That's not to say that its not a great record, just not as out.

[AndrewHill]

I'd also like to put a word in for the Freddie Hubbard/Woody Shaw sessions that came out on Blue Note, I think around the mid-eighties as 'The Eternal Triangle' and 'Double Take'. I have both sessions on a double cd that was issued in 1995, but unfortunately both the single discs and the double cd set are oop. If you find any of them used at a decent price (the 2cd set has gone for some pretty insane prices), I'd scoop 'em up; you won't be disapointed.

p.s. Shaw's also on Hill's Passing Ships along with Dizzy Reece, another excellent place to hear some late 60's Shaw (and Reece for that matter).

[sidewinder]

I've always thought that the Hubbard/Shaw Blue Notes were under-rated. Very nice listening on these - and Kenny Garrett proves to be an excellent foil. Nice tune selection too ('Desert Moonlight', 'Calling Miss Kadija' etc)

[riverrat]

More great recommendations, thanks.

Any opinions on The Time is Right?

[connoisseur series500]

My favorite that has not been mentioned:

Last of the Line

I second this comment. It's a great two-cd set, and it appears to be readily available at a decent price. "Love Dance" (the first cd) might be one of Woody's greatest albums.

[freeform83]

No one has mentioned Woody on Chick Corea's IS Sessions (69). Do any of you find him less convincing in a more explicitly "free" context like on the second disc of the Sessions?

"The Awakening" on SONG OF SONGS (72) is the closest I've heard Woody get to this collective improv sound on an album under his own name. I love this track; it's dramatic yet spacey, and meandering in a good way (if that makes sense). Love when the rock beat kicks in toward the end, almost as if too late, and disappears just as quickly into the wash of free sounds. Bennie Maupin is another plus. I am surprised it hasn't been discovered by DJs as a source of samples.

Edited June 16, 2007 by freeform83

[AndrewHill]

No one has mentioned Woody on Chick Corea's IS Sessions (69). Do any of you find him less convincing in a more explicitly "free" context like on the second disc of the Sessions?

One of my favorite Corea's, if not my favorite. 'Converge' in particular is a killer track and I think Shaw is a natural fit in this context (he kind of reminds of Alan Shorter at times). So I guess I'm saying that I'm convinced Actually, everyone, especially Dave Holland and Bennie Maupin are exemplary on these sessions. Just awesome stuff.

[sjarrell]

Bump!

[jostber]

Love this great collection from 32 Jazz:

[Guest Bill Barton]

Song of Songs and Concert Ensemble at the Berliner Jazztage are musts. The latter was coupled with The Iron Men on a 32 Jazz release. Rosewood is pretty good, though it has a dated sound. The CD reissue also includes three songs off of For Sure! The other CBS stuff remains un-reissued other than the Mosaic set and Stepping Stones.

Also, pick up Larry Young's Unity.

Now that this thread has resurfaced I see that this is the only mention of this combination of two albums on one CD collection. I agree that Concert Ensemble/Iron Man are Shaw essentials, definitely among my top favorites. Two More Pieces of the Puzzle is the title of the two-CD set.

And a big for Dark Journey too!

Edited July 25, 2009 by Bill Barton

[CJ Shearn]

I'll second the recommendations for the High Note discs, "Isabel the Liberator" on the second volume is a fav. of mine. "Stepping Stones" is an essential disc too. I want to pick up "Master of the Art" and "Night Music" eventually.

[BillF]

I'd also like to put a word in for the Freddie Hubbard/Woody Shaw sessions that came out on Blue Note, I think around the mid-eighties as 'The Eternal Triangle' and 'Double Take'. I have both sessions on a double cd that was issued in 1995, but unfortunately both the single discs and the double cd set are oop. If you find any of them used at a decent price (the 2cd set has gone for some pretty insane prices), I'd scoop 'em up; you won't be disapointed.

Was very impressed by a track from this that I heard on a radio show, but ran up against the insane prices you mention.

[sidewinder]

This one has eluded me to date but it's a beauty. And still readily available and in print too I think.

Remember reading some very rave reviews of this Hayes/Shaw group with Rene McLean (in Melody Maker) back in 1977 when they appeared for a stint at Ronnie Scotts (same European tour). There was a bust up between Shaw and Hayes on stage though, I recall, which curtailed the gig. And the band...

Have never heard Rene McLean sound as much like Jackie Mac as he does on this CD during his alto solos. No bad thing at all, under the circumstances.

Bill - too bad about that Hubbard/Shaw 2CD set. You could pick it up for £10 or less some years ago and its worth scouring the second hand bins on the offchance of a copy. I always thought that these sessions were unfairly panned when the two LPs originally came out (still got them). Don Sickler did a pretty good transcription job on some of those Blue Note 'classics'.

Edited October 12, 2009 by sidewinder