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

Recommended by

Suggestions
Mono cover

Mono

The Thing
The Magic Triangle cover

The Magic Triangle

Famoudou Don Moye, Joseph Jarman, Don Pullen
Five Pieces (1975) cover

Five Pieces (1975)

Anthony Braxton
In for a Penny, In for a Pound cover

In for a Penny, In for a Pound

Henry Threadgill Zooid
Dune cover

Dune

Klaus Schulze
Etudes cover

Etudes

Ron Carter