Woody Shaw: Development of Style in Three Versions of “The Moontrane.

”
Dr. Keith T. Karns

A Paper Presented at the 2017 Jazz Education Network Conference

New Orleans, LA
January, 2017

Notes and Solo Transcriptions.

This is an adaptation of my dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from the
University of North Texas, completed in May of 2016. For a complete copy of this research visit:
http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849774/?q=Keith%20Karns

Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was a highly influential postbop trumpet player. He was active from the mid 1960s
through the late 1980s. In the 1960s and early 1970s Shaw worked and recorded with many of the
top names in jazz including Eric Dolphy, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, and Chick Corea. In the mid
1970s Shaw became active as a leader, co-leading a quintet with Louis Hayes. Later, Shaw would
take over the sole leadership role of this group. Shaw was active until 1987 when health problems
brought his career to an end. Shaw died of complications from a tragic subway accident in 1989.1

Shaw was known for his virtuosic approach to the trumpet. This included a mastery of technique,
exploration of intervallic improvisation—particularly intervals of perfect fourths and fifths—as
well as his fiery tone. He was also an accomplished composer and many of his iconic solos come
from recordings of his own compositions.

Free Jazz
The term free jazz refers to the collection of free improvisation styles in vogue in the 1960s and
1970s. There are examples of music that can be classified as free dating back as early as the
1940s—Lennie Tristano’s “Intuition” comes to mind—however, it is typically agreed upon that
Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) and Change of the Century (1960) are
among the first free jazz recordings. Many writers use the term ‘free jazz’ and ‘avant-garde’
interchangeably. For the sake of clarity I use ‘free jazz’ exclusively in this discussion.

Free jazz is unique from conventional jazz styles in that it does not necessarily rely on tonal
harmony, conventional metric structures or conventional performance practices, formal
structures, or conventional ensemble roles.2 At its core, free jazz is a collection of highly personal
styles. Describing these styles collectively can be at times problematic. For our purposes one of
the best descriptions comes from Keith Waters.

Waters visualizes free jazz as a spectrum where performers can move from conservative styles
(hard bop) to freer styles (free jazz) by preserving or abandoning the musical elements of meter,
hypermeter, pulse, harmonic progression, and harmonic rhythm. The more musical elements that
are abandoned the more free a performance becomes. Waters identifies the body music that falls
in between hard bop and free jazz styles as postbop.3

1
Barry Kernfeld. “Shaw, Woody.” The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed.. Grove Music Online.Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press, accessed December 28, 2015, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J405600.
2
David Borgo. "Free jazz." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 22,
2016,http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2256589.
3
Keith Waters, The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-68 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 80
Postbop
There were many artists active in postbop in the mid 1960s. Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet
was among the first groups to pioneer this style. What is important about the Second Quintet in
relation to Woody Shaw is that they incorporated elements of free jazz with elements of hard bop.
Davis and company would abandon specific pre-existing musical elements (meter, hypermeter,
pulse, harmonic rhythm, harmonic progression) in order to move hard bop performance toward a
freer style.4 This conception of postbop is useful for considering not only Davis’ contributions,
but the work of other postbop performers as well.

Differences Between Miles Davis and Woody Shaw

In the music of the Second Quintet, entire solos abandon various musical elements. In these
instances, free jazz techniques are a common presence throughout a solo or an entire tune. By
contrast, free jazz elements in Shaw’s music are short and episodic—rarely longer than four
measures. This creates a constant contrast between passages that reinforce pre-existing musical
elements and passages that challenge pre-existing musical elements.

Perhaps the most important difference between Shaw and Davis is how the group interacts during
free episodes. One might think that an episode that “abandons” a musical element implies that the
passage is totally free and not governed by an underlying structure. This is not the case in regard
to most Woody Shaw solos. In these solos, episodes that challenge allegiance to various musical
hierarchies do so through the superimposition of new musical structures on top of pre-existing
ones.

This can be best heard when considering the role of the rhythm section—specifically the piano—
in both groups. In the Second Quintet, a common practice for pianist Herbie Hancock was to play
little or no harmony, particularly during sections where the group abandoned pre-existing
harmonic progression. This accompaniment tactic is not a feature in Shaw’s music. Indeed,
episodes of free jazz in Shaw’s solos depend on the dissonance created by superimposed lines,
and so must rely on a highly active accompaniment, particularly in regard to the piano and bass.

Harmonic Sequences on “The Moontrane”

Harmonic sequences are an important part of Shaw’s compositional style. Interestingly, episodes
of free jazz that challenge harmonic progression typically occur over harmonic sequences.

All of the important harmonic sequences on “The Moontrane” are nonfunctional. Below is a list
of these sequences.

Circle of Fourths Sequence. A section, mm. 5-6 (1966 only)5

C6/9 Fmaj7 | Bb6/9 Ebmaj7 | Dmaj13+11 |

Nonfunctional Sequence 1. A section, mm. 5-6 (1973 and later)6

C-7 D-7 | Eb-7 F-7 | Dmaj13+11 |

Nonfunctional Sequence 2. Bridge, mm. 21-24

G-7 F-7 | Bb-7 Ab-7 | C#-7 B-7 | % |

4
Keith Waters, The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-68 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 80.
5
The Circle of Fourths Sequence is found only on the 1966 version of “The Moontrane” from Unity. All other versions of “The
Moontrane” feature the published chord progression.
6
After 1966. Nonfunctional Sequence 1 replaced the Circle of Fourths Sequence on “The Moontrane.” The earliest example of this
can be heard in 1973 on the Woody Shaw’s Live at Montreux performance with Bobby Hutcherson.
Bimodal Superimposition
Using a scale or mode not typically associated with a particular chord. Shaw’s primary
examples of Bimodal Superimposition utilize the major pentatonic scale, however there
are instances in his early and late periods where Shaw superimposes the dominant bebop
scale over modal sections.

This technique is representative of Shaw’s unconventional modal approach. Shaw used

this technique alongside conventional modal approaches throughout his career, however
by the 1980s Shaw favored conventional modal approaches to modal superimposition.

Woody Shaw’s use of Bimodal Superimposition on the A sections to “The Moontrane” Unity (1966)

Nonharmonic Pentatonic Pairs

This term refers to two pentatonic scales used to create intervallic lines that move “in and
out” of a harmonic sequence. Woody Shaw used this technique on harmonic sequences
throughout the beginning and middle part of his career. Shaw preferred pentatonic pairs
that shared no common tones, therefore were usually a half step apart (although on
occasion Shaw used pairs a tritone apart). These pairs were typically based on b7 and ♮ 7
of the chord of resolution.

Nonharmonic Pentatonic Pairs and Intervallic Sequencing on three versions of “The Moontrane”.
Intervallic Sequencing
This technique superimposes a motif based on a specific interval—usually a perfect
fourth or fifth—over a harmonic sequence. The motif is typically transposed across a
sequence that does not reinforce the original sequence of the tune. The lines created using
this technique are very similar to Nonharmonic Pentatonic Pairs. This approach begins to
appear in Shaw’s playing in the 1970s. It is quite common in Shaw’s playing in the
1980s.

Intervallic Sequencing on “The Moontrane” from The Eternal Triangle

Scale Superimposition
A single scale or mode superimposed over a harmonic sequence. Like Nonharmonic Pentatonic
Scales and Intervallic Sequencing, this technique can creates phrases that move “in and out” of a
harmonic sequence, but are often less dissonant than Nonharmonic Pentatonic Pairs or Intervallic
Sequencing. It is difficult to predict what scale Shaw uses in these episodes. The primary
common factor in all instances of this technique is that each scale contains at least one common
tone with the first chord of the sequence. This technique is an artifact of Shaw’s approach in the
1980s.

Scale Superimposition on “The Moontrane” From The Eternal Triangle (1987)

Selected Recordings7
Horace Silver – Cape Verdean Blues (1965)
Larry Young – Unity (1966)
Woody Shaw – Song of Songs (1973)
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – Anthenagin (1973)
Woody Shaw – The Moontrane (1975)
Dexter Gordon – Homecoming (1977)
Woody Shaw – Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard (1978)
Woody Shaw – Little Red’s Fantasy (1978)
Woody Shaw – Rosewood (1978)
Woody Shaw – Setting Standards (1984)
Freddie Hubbard/Woody Shaw – Double Take (1986)
Freddie Hubbard/Woody Shaw – The Eternal Triangle (1987)

Acknowledgements
I am greatly indebted to Mr. Mike Steinel and Dr. John Murphy for their patience,
assistance and advice in this project. It has been through their guidance that I was able to
focus my research and complete this study. I would also like to thank Mr. Tony Baker,
Ms. Jan Kagarice, and Dr. Vern Kagarice for their assistance in my studies. I am
especially grateful to my wife Courtney Karns, my son Jack Karns and the rest of my
family for the love and support I received throughout this research and all of my studies.

7This is a list of recordings representative of Shaw’s style as well as important moments in his career. It is not a comprehensive
discography of Shaw’s recorded output.