''Blackstone Legacy'' is the debut album by trumpeter

Woody Shaw Woody Herman Shaw Jr. (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, arranger, band leader, and educator. Shaw is widely known as one of the 20th century's most important and influentia ...

recorded in 1970 and released on the

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

label.Woody Shaw catalog
accessed August 22, 2013 Moved by the highly charged political sensibilities among creative artists during the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s, Shaw's message for ''Blackstone Legacy'' spoke to the social and political ills of his time. In the liner notes to ''Blackstone Legacy'', Shaw states: :“''This album is dedicated to the youth who will benefit mankind. To the youth who are constantly aware of the turmoil in which the world is and who are trying to right all these wrongs – whether in music or in speech or in any other way of positive work.'' :''This album is dedicated to the freedom of Black people all over the world. And it’s dedicated to the people in the ghettos here. The ‘stone’ in the title is the image of strength. I grew up in a ghetto – funky houses, rats and roaches, stinking hallways. I’ve seen all of that, and I’ve seen people overcome all of that. This music is meant to be a light of hope, a sound of strength and of coming through. It’s one for the ghetto.'' :''We’re trying to express what’s happening in the world today as we – a new breed of young musicians – feel it. I mean the different tensions in the world, the ridiculous war in Vietnam, the oppression of poor people in this, a country of such wealth. The cats on this date usually discuss these things, but we’re all also trying to reach a state of spiritual enlightenment in which we’re continually aware of what’s happening but react in a positive way. The music in this album, you see, expresses strength – confidence that we’ll overcome these things.''”

Background

In the liner notes on the original LP release, Shaw told writer

Nat Hentoff Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. F ...

that the album came about when John Koenig, son of

Contemporary Records Contemporary Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles in 1951. Contemporary produced music from a variety of jazz styles and players. West Coast players Contemporary became identified with a style of ja ...

owner

Lester Koenig Lester Koenig (December 3, 1917 – November 21, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and founder of the jazz record label Contemporary Records. Biography Koenig was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Minna (Harli ...

, saw Shaw playing with

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and very occasional flute player. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day an ...

at the

Lighthouse Café The Lighthouse Café is a nightclub located at 30 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, California. It has been active as a jazz showcase since 1949 and, under the name "The Lighthouse", was one of the best known West Coast jazz clubs from the 1950s th ...

in late September, 1970, while Henderson was recording his album If You're Not Part of the Solution, You're Part of the Problem. John Koenig encouraged his father to see the Henderson band the following evening, which Lester Koenig did. The label head was impressed by Shaw's playing and offered to record Shaw and give him complete creative control over his backing musicians and music. Shaw, who did not have his own band at the time, recruited two members of the Henderson band who played on If You're Not Part of the Solution, pianist

George Cables George Andrew Cables (born November 14, 1944) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Cables was born in New York City, United States. He was initially taught piano by his mother. He then studied at the High School of Performing Art ...

and drummer

Lenny White Leonard White III (born December 19, 1949) is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. White has been called "one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion". White has won thre ...

. To complete the group, Shaw chose three musicians who had worked for

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

in the four years preceding the recording: bassist

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy Awards, and is also a Cello, cellist who has reco ...

, and reed players

Bennie Maupin Bennie Maupin (born August 29, 1940) is an American jazz multireedist who performs on various saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet. Biography Maupin was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandish ...

and

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz was first exposed to jazz as the son of the owners of a jazz nightclub in Baltimore. In 1958 he left Baltimore to study at the J ...

. Shaw also hired bassist

Clint Houston Clinton Joseph Houston (June 24, 1946 – June 7, 2000) was an American jazz double-bassist. Houston played with George Cables and Lenny White in the house band at Slug's, a club in New York City, then played with Nina Simone (1969), Roy Haynes ( ...

for the sessions, and four of the six tracks on the album feature both Carter and Houston playing bass. Shaw's album was recorded in New York City on December 8–9, about ten weeks after the Henderson band played its Lighthouse Café residency.

Reception

Michael G. Nastos of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called the album, "Truly a landmark recording, and a pivot point in the history of post-modern music".Nastos, M. G
Allmusic Review
accessed August 19, 2013

Track listing

''All compositions by Woody Shaw except as indicated'' # "Blackstone Legacy" - 16:08 # "Think On Me" (George Cables) - 10:45 # "Lost and Found" - 11:57 # "New World" (Cables) - 18:30 # "Boo-Ann's Grand" - 14:25 # "A Deed for Dolphy" - 8:56

Personnel

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

References

{{Authority control Woody Shaw albums 1971 debut albums Contemporary Records albums