Woody Shaw: Love Dance (1975) Muse

Selection: Love Dance (Bonner)

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Track List

A1. Love Dance (J. Bonner) 12:37
A2. Obsequious (L. Young ) 9:28
B1. Sunbath (P. Stern) 6:33
B2. Zoltan (W. Shaw) 6:48
B3. Soulfully I Love You (Black Spiritual Of Love) (B. Harper) 8:13

Artists

Woody Shaw, trumpet; Billy Harper, tenor saxophone; Rene Mclean, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Steve Turre, trombone, bass trombone; Joe Bonner, piano; Cecil Mcbee, bass; Tony Waters, congas; Victor Lewis, drums; Guilherme Franco, percussion. 

Recorded November, 1975 at Blue Rock Studio, New York City, Eddie Korvin, engineer; mastered by Joe Brescio, producer, Michael Cuscuna; Ⓟ Ⓒ 1976, Muse Records.

Music:

No greater tribute to Woody than from Miles: “Now there’s a great trumpet player. He can play different from all of them.” — Miles Davis. (English also spoken)

The Bonner composition Love Dance is a killer groove, monumental, anthemic, unstoppable. The piano/bass riff kicks off and I go Wylde Stallions twerking in my LJC Director’s Chair. Dadadadaa, Dada da, der du, duhduh.  Repeat, repeat, hit me again, some more. I can not get enough of Love Dance on my turntable. 

Woody finesses the arrangement with some ensemble passages,  all the soloists rise to the occasion, Turre’s earthy trombone, Rene McLean’s acid tone like his dad, McBee pushing the bass, finishing with Billy Harper’s diamond-hard drill, that wicked riff keeps coming back like a good penny. Phew! Twelve compelling minutes and I’m exhausted.

The front line is strong, and the album includes three “percussionists”, to deliver additional rhythmic complexity.  I’m warming to Rene McLean, who became a regular feature of Shaw’s line-up, when not performing with dad and The Cosmic Brotherhood. Talent doesn’t always run in families, but maybe hard work and practice does in this one.  I picked up some nice Steeplechase titles with Rene as leader, not disappointing. 

All the tracks are notable, some familiar titles from other albums. Shaw’s signature Larry Young title Obsequious for example is also found on the In The Beginning prequel Shaw album, his early playbook but not issued by Muse until 1983. 

Overall, Love Dance is a must have – if you can find it!

Vinyl: MR 5074

Big stereo presentation. Pressed at Bell Sound, etching PRC (Richmond Indiana, plating/metalware) Muse are generally solid performers, especially the mid and later 70s releases. Later, things can get a bit messy, always listen first.

Collector’s Corner

I knew nothing of this album until we came face to face in the New Arrivals, and even, then the cover said to me: “Are you sure, LJC? .. that title,  Luuurve Daaance … the wedding invitation card pink fonts … that shirt … What was the art director trying to say about this album? Whatever it was, it’s not the album I am now listening to.  All Music gave the album only four out of five stars. Were they listening to the same album as me?  I’m giving it six out of five, or I’m thinking, maybe seven. 

For a terrific Woody Shaw album, and we love Woody Shaw here at LJC, its publishing history is criminally deficient. Released originally in 1976, with a simultaneous edition in Japan. Over twenty years later, in 1998,  a DSD digital remaster  – Extra-Evil Silver Disk –  was issued in Japan, and then … pouff. Nothing. No vinyl reissue since 1976, making the original vinyl very scarce. If it came back, keep an eye on digital source files. Too much of today’s vinyl revival is actually a CD-revival on 180gm plastic.

I’d never seen it before in the wild, and I think I now know why. People in the know know, and they know about the cover. Luke, this is not the “Luurve Daance” you are looking for. . .

I am purposely ignoring the Mosaic Complete Woody Shaw Muse Vinyl box set. They seem to turn up  only in Estate Probate Sales, with the auctioneer’s remark “appears unplayed“. Never seen the Shaw Mosaic Vinyl box in the wild here. For those that have it, it must be a keeper, or they have taken it with them over to The Other Side.

(Cue Pearly Gates. What’s in the bag, Sir? Umm, nothing really, just a couple of Mosaics. What, like Sistine Chapel mosaics? Don’t lie to me, not here.  Not exactly, Out-of-Print Mosaics, vinyl box sets. Hey Rudy, over here! We got another one! They keep comin’! Take a seat in the Waiting Room, Sir)

It’s a pity Mosiac / Cuscuna hasn’t caught up with the vinyl revival, still churning out multiple CD sets. The OOP Shaw digital box (left) contains seven CDs. You would be better advised to compile your own collection of Muse original  vinyl copies, which is what I have done. 

Woody’s son seems active in promoting his dad’s legacy. Good egg.  Someone owns the publishing rights to Muse – Sony?. There is treasure there for whoever has custody of the original tapes, though on current Sony performance, if it is Sony, confidence is not high. Sony doesn’t seem to have much presence in the vinyl revival, another big company bewitched by digital formats and the search for the next Taylor Swift. Sony Legacy division released a six-CD box set of Woody’s 1977-1981 run with Columbia, The Complete Woody Shaw Columbia Albums Collection.  Like, we need more Woody Cds. I suspect we vinylistas are on our own here. The Japanese pressing of Love Dance sounds promising, mid-70s Toshiba-EMI were good early days, they knew how to cut vinyl.

Vinyl House (UK) currently  have a Muse Promo copy of Love Dance, on Ebay, auction closing this weekend. Vinyl House (UK)  are high-end dealers, the guys behind Mobley 1568 breaking the 7k barrier,  EBay twitchers may want to take note. I had some questionable dealings with them a few years back. Collectors Advisory: Muse promo/white label’s are quite common. I have a half dozen, they don’t sound any different to an ordinary commercial release. They are bulk radio-play industry promos, not test pressings. Some Muse editions found in Europe are manufactured in France, some even with Van Gelder metal, though this rarely gets a mention. They sound no different either.

On the back of Love Dance, its been something of a Woody Shaw revival week at LJC. revisiting the Shaw Collection. Columbia has some outstanding Woody titles, there is even an interesting title on German Enja label, Lotus Flower, just ignore the cod-Japanese references. However, a new release to avoid is this apparently promising-looking Resonance title, Larry Young In Paris 1963-5 ORTF Recordings, a “lost recording” that should have stayed lost. (Resonance have a track record of “newly-discovered recordings” that don’t cut the mustard sonically)

Larry shares the stage with Woody Shaw and Nathan Davis, a powerful team, but unfortunately a poor quality live radio recording, with the engineer at a loss how to record Larry’s Hammond live on stage, the result sounding not unlike a washing machine on spin. The recording was subsequently given the coup-de-grâce, digitised by French state radio archivists INA, finishing it off. I might get around to posting a selection from the better tracks.

Any Woody Shaw lovers out there? I couldn’t find anyone reviewing the Love Dance album, I suspect it is rare in the wild. Other Shaw titles or appearances of note? Throw in your sixcents’worth

Thoughts welcome, flex those digits.

LJC

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