United cover

United

Released

Virtuoso trumpeter Woody Shaw made five albums for Columbia Records, each one a statement. On this farewell to the label, that statement is, “Roll the tapes and let’s go.” The band — a quintet with Steve Turre’s trombone joining the leader on the front line, and Gary Bartz guesting on alto sax on two tracks — recorded at three separate sessions in March 1981, but the music has the feel of a single day spent in the studio, in the old-school Blue Note manner. They rip through a couple of Shaw originals, a piece by Wayne Shorter, one by pianist Mulgrew Miller, a standard and a blues. Their version of “What Is This Thing Called Love” is basically a tribute to the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet’s version from 1956, with all the trumpet pyrotechnics that implies.

Phil Freeman

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