If Woody Shaw had played in the '50s and '60s instead of the '70s and '80s he would be Lee Morgan, remembered as a giant, his recordings plentiful and available. I believe Shaw's "Rosewood" is essential for anyone building a semi serious jazz collection.
So I didn't have to think hard about buying Columbia's new reissue of "Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard," which Shaw recorded with the core of his "Rosewood" band about a year later and at the height of his powers. Except for 17 minutes of McCoy Tyner's "Blue for Ball," the program is all hard-bop compositions from Shaw and bandmates Onaje Allan Gumbs (piano), Clint Houston (bass) and Victor Lewis (drums). Nothing clocks in under eight minutes, leaving lots of room for consistently excellent improvisation. Saxophonist Carter Jefferson doesn't contribute a composition, but his Sam Rivers-like playing was a revelation to me. I'm only sorry he led exactly one session and it's unavailable.
Great liner notes from Shaw's son Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III, trombonist Steve Turre, who played with Shaw, although not on this session, and producer Michael Cuscuna, who must have done a great job of recording in the first place because the sound is studio quality. This and "Rosewood" make a great Woody Shaw twofer.
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