Rosewood

Trumpeter Woody Shaw was a musician’s musician, a skilled composer and an absolute master of the horn. Rosewood, his debut for Columbia Records, featured a 14-member ensemble that included tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, trombonist Steve Turre, pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs, drummer Victor Lewis, and even a harpist (Lois Colin) on two tracks. The tunes and arrangements were as dense and beautiful as deliberately shaped forests, occasionally featuring electric piano but otherwise putting an up-to-the-minute spin on hard bop and modern jazz while conceding nothing to fusion. And Shaw’s own playing was as virtuosic and high-flying as Clifford Brown’s or Freddie Hubbard’s.