The Moontrane
Woody Shaw
Click to Order
"When I think of Woody Shaw, I think of John Coltrane.
Harmonically, I think of John Coltrane... "
- Kenny Garrett
- Words from Woody Shaw on "The Moontrane" -
"Larry [Young] was the first musician I worked with who utilized the pentatonic scale, and he turned me onto African and Oriental
music to hear the many different kinds of music made in this scale. I realized after listening to these records, you don't need
a lot of notes to make complex, intricate and brilliant music, and less is often more....
I attribute much of my harmonic knowledge to Larry Young, who got it through Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. It's all
part of a tradition which is very much part of my music and always will be..."
"Another area of my musical development that Larry Young inspired me to explore was composing. Larry was the first to record
my music, and ironically, the tune he chose was the first one I wrote, "The Moontrane", and it was written in the pentatonic
scale. It's funny to me that my first composition is not only my most recorded tune, but I played it and recorded it many
times as a sideman long before I did it as a leader.
Sometimes, I think I should have named The Moontrane - "The Youngtrane" - since it was as much a tribute to Larry
Young as it was to John Coltrane...."
The Title:
"I came up with the name while I was listening to Symphony Sid's radio show. The show was on really late at night, so I'd pretend asleep until everyone else in the house had gone to bed, and then I'd sneak into the livingroom and put on the radio. One particular night, I was just gazing out the window at this incredible full moon when Sid played John Coltrane's "Cousin Mary". I was immediately knocked out by the music and had this vision of Coltrane circling around the moon I was staring at. Later, when I wrote the music, that image kept on coming to mind, and the name "The Moontrane" seemed to fit the music and make perfect sense."
- Excerpts from Woody Shaw Interview with Lois Gilbert, 1980
Read / Download this Complete Article:
WRVR - Woody Shaw Interview (.PDF)
More Articles & Interviews:
http://www.woodyshaw.com/press.htm
Download Transcription of Woody Shaw's Solo on "Moontrane"(Unity, Larry Loung):
http://www.woodyshaw.com/transcriptions/moontrane.pdf
