Woody Shaw update
Kevin Long
I have an update on Woody Shaw's condition as of 6pm EST 20 Mar 89.
My advice is not only to sit while reading this, but to slouch.
I have spoken with Joe Fields at Muse Records, who has recorded Woody
on a number of albums over the years, and who first enticed him to the New
York area from San Francisco years ago. The information I share
here is from that conversation.
Going back several months, the last Joe saw of Woody was before his departure
to Europe last year, as I understand it. Joe dropped him off in NYC with
his check in his hand, and wondered where Woody could be going.
This all took place some time after his latest Blue Note album with
Freddie Hubbard. Woody has had a drug problem for a long time, and ended
up in a hospital in Rotterdam. After caring for him for 30-60 days, they
sent him back to the U.S., as he was a foreigner. Joe reports that Woody
has a terminal needle-related illness.
Woody's father met him at the airplane when he arrived back in
Newark, as Woody was in a wheelchair. When Joe called
Woody at his father's home, where he was staying, to ask how things
were and if he was practicing, Woody said his valve was stuck and
his horn was giving him problems, and that no, he wasn't practicing.
It wasn't until Steve Turre visited Woody that Joe learned the real reason
why Woody wasn't able to practice. Because of his illness, he had lost
all of his teeth.
Woody is legally blind (which accounts for his stone-cold stare on the
covers of a number of his albums, reports Joe), and when Max Roach was playing
at the Vanguard several weeks ago, he was kind enough to send a car down
for Woody.
Woody stayed through the first set, and reportedly told the people near him,
"I'm getting out of here" and left. He ended up at the Cobb (sp?) Ave
Station in Brooklyn, where he fell down the stairs and rolled off the plat-
form and was struck by the subway train. He was apparently so high that
he remained awakeafter being hit, even though the injury required
amputation of his left arm.
Joe firmly rejects the idea of the accident being an attempted suicide.
Woody remains today in a coma, on a respirator, in a New York hospital.
If things are as bad as they seem, we have probably heard our last Woody
Shaw music, and we shall soon see another talent disappear from jazz.
Joe and I talked for a while about Woody and the musical impact he's made.
Joe said that prior to his accident, Woody had mellowed out quite a bit,
and during the recording of his latest Muse release, "Imagination" (Muse
Records Compact Disc MCD5338), he and Rudy Van Gelder sat in the booth
listening in amazement to Woody's playing. The album was done almost
completely in one take. Joe also reflected how on Woody's Contemporary
Records work he had helped pave the way for people like Wynton today.
His Columbia work has also stood the test of time, but impatient with
Woody's sales, Columbia dropped his contract after only a handfull of LPs.
I guess that's how it is. For every person that gets themselves in
this kind of shape, I can only hope that there is someone else that's
shocked enough by the starkness of the situation to pull themselves
out of a similar situation.
If anyone is interested in a Muse catalog, which contains nine Shaw LPs,
write to:
Muse Records
160 W 71st St
New York, NY 10023
(213) 873-2020
Regards,
Kevin Long
KTRU Houston
Joe Hellerstein,VMS research area,,4986600
way out of jazz circles.
Well, here's to Woody's speedy recovery.
jh
Mark Goldstein
wow.
Sydney R. Polk
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> I'm depressed........
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> =====================================================================
> | |
> | Keith Hedger : {...!}uunet!inmet!hedger hed...@inmet.inmet.com |
> | 'It is a sad, but beautiful world..........' |
> =====================================================================
No shit, man.
--
Syd Polk | Wherever you go, there you are.
jaz...@claris.com | Let the music be your light.
GO 'STROS! | These opinions are mine. Any resemblence to other
GO RICE! | opinions, real or fictitious, is purely coincidence.