Woody Shaw at Fat Tuesday's, April 10, 1980

When he was in new York in 1980 my friend Otto Flückiger went to see the Woody Shaw Quintet again (as he had already done in 1978). This time Woody was playing at Fat Tuesday’s.

The other band members during this engagement were Carter Jefferson (as), Larry Willis (p), Stafford James (b) and Victor Lewis (d). Unfortunately this time around Otto did not make any photos at the concert (or maybe they were not good enough to keep?). But of course he had his small tape recorder with him.

The tape that survives from this evening is strangely programmed, it starts of with a duet by a female poet reciting a “soulful” poem accompanied by someone on bass clarinet. This may have been recorded at another place and time. or maybe these were friends of Woody opening the evening. Then there is a hard cut and we are in the middle of a fast tune by Woody’s Quintet – which apparently was the closer of the first set. After that comes about fifteen minutes of an interview Otto did with Ed “Tiger” Lewis about his career. Maybe Ed Lewis was in the audience at Fat Tuesday’s that night? Else I do not know how the interview landed on this tape.

After the Lewis bit comes the opener for the second set, Woody Shaw’s Composition Opec, which you can hear in the player below:

This is followed on the tape by two tracks with Wynton Marsalis (18 at that time) guesting with the band and then it’s the quintet again. Maybe at a later point I will put up more from this concert (but not with Wynton, I do not want any old wars to be fought here). Until then: Enjoy!

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