Woody Shaw Biography

Woody Herman Shaw II (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) (United States) was a jazz trumpet player and composer.

Shaw grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and began his study of music at the age of 11. Early in his career he was influenced by Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro, Booker Little, Dizzy Gillespie (whom Woody Jr's father had gone to high school with), Freddie Hubbard, amongst others, yet the influence of saxophonist Eric Dolphy, with whom he played and recorded in the 1960s, and John Coltrane, were equally as important to the development of his style and concept as a trumpeter and composer. He worked during the 1960s with such greats as Horace Silver, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. During this period he also recorded for Blue Note Records as a sideman with Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and others. Beginning in the mid-1970s he worked primarily as a leader.

In 1978 Shaw was signed to Columbia Records and recorded the albums Rosewood, Stepping Stones, Woody III, For Sure, and United. Rosewood was nominated for 2 Grammies 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.

On 10 May 1989, Shaw died from kidney failure.

The Almost-Complete Discography of Woody Shaw

The Official Woody Shaw Discography Page