New Releases: Woody Shaw Live in Tokyo, 1981

I would like to offer my gratitude to my good friend Guy Jones for alerting me to the recent release of this excellent Woody Shaw album.

The European label Elemental Music describes itself as "a new label that specializes in releasing newly discovered archival or out-of-print jazz recordings," and one of its latest issues is Tokyo '81, an outstanding concert by trumpeter Woody Shaw in Japan that had lain dormant in the vaults for several decades. Shaw, who on this occasion plays both trumpet and flugelhorn, appears in a quintet setting alongside a stellar lineup: Steve Turre on trombone and percussion, Mulgrew Miller on piano, Stafford James on bass, and Tony Reedus on drums. Though the tapes are almost forty years old, the sound is good, and the repertoire is magnificent and extremely accessible, consisting of four Shaw originals, one composition by Miller, and a tour-de-force interpretation of Thelonious Monk's well-known standard "'Round Midnight."

The opening track, an extended reading of Shaw's "Rosewood," sets the pace for the rest of the concert: the listener will be treated to Shaw's inimitable style of jazz, with lengthy versions of tunes that will afford plenty of opportunities for everyone involved to shine. This is particularly evident in the 15-minute "'Round Midnight," one of the true gems of the album, which brings to the fore the musical richness and genius of the Monk standard, which has been played so often that it's seemingly impossible to make it sound fresh and different. Yet the quintet achieves just that, mixing soft, intimate passages with others that pick up the tempo and the energy, and featuring extremely inventive solos by Shaw, Miller, and Turre. On "Apex," written by Miller, the piano is understandably more prominent, and the melody inspires Turre and Shaw to do some swift, highly imaginative soloing.

Pianist Mulgrew Miller.

The ballad "From Moment to Moment" slows down the proceedings, with Shaw playing in a melancholy, yet passionate way, ably supported by the rhythm section, and Turre exploring the lower registers of the trombone in a short but memorable solo. "Song of Songs" is arguably the most experimental of the six tunes, a fresh reading of the title track of Shaw's 1972 album that opens with a dissonant dialogue between the trumpet and the piano with Reedus playing the cymbals in the background and that clocks in at over 16 minutes of intensely expressive playing. Finally, "Theme for Maxine" is no more than a closing vamp that allows the leader to introduce the band and put an end to an excellent concert. We congratulate Elemental Music on the release of this indispensable live appearance by Shaw that would have gone otherwise unnoticed and hope that there will be many more similar issues from this label in the near future.

Trombonist Steve Turre.