Woody Shaw - Love Dance
Originally released on Muse Records in 1976, Love Dance captures Woody Shaw at his most expansive and introspective. This session presents the trumpeter in commanding form, guiding a remarkable group - including Billy Harper, Steve Turre, René McLean, Cecil McBee and Joe Bonner - through five long-form pieces that balance modal exploration, spiritual depth and post-bop drive. Shaw’s tone is radiant throughout, shifting between searching lyricism and bold rhythmic attack, while the ensemble moves with cohesion and urgency. Harper’s tenor brings a fierce, thematic weight; Turre and McLean add bright, sculpted lines; McBee and Bonner anchor the music with fluid, open-ended foundations that encourage the group’s freer impulses. Long considered a standout in Shaw’s discography, Love Dance remains a vital document of his vision - an album where compositional focus and improvisational ambition meet with exceptional clarity of intent. This edition restores the session’s full detail and breadth, offering a vivid portrait of one of jazz’s most forward-looking trumpeters at a moment of peak creativity. Available on vinyl.