Shavw By R. J. SMITH Woody Shaw certainly is not an old an and he does not play like one. But oughout Shaw's music, there lies a nsibility of firm and positive rectness that would belie the age of any of Shaw's jazz elders, and which ertainly makes the 34-year-old Shaw em at times almost possessed by the host of some old jazz great. Maybe it is because he has been aptised by such a variety of music that haw's style conveys such integrity. By aying with people like Eric Dolphy, ud Powell, Andrew Hill, Art Blakey, 'erbie Hancock and many more, Shaw viously has soaked up large pieces of e modern jazz tradition. BUT INSTEAD of displaying this jazz smosis through a transparent display f eclecticism - a dreadful isjudgement of which many in jazz re guilty - Shaw, quite nselfconsciously, has found a certain nderground current running through 11 portions of-his jazz background. Of course, if one possesses the tegrity of age, it does not mean he is lways wise. At his late show Monday t the Earle, an inebriated Woody Shaw ,pilled customer's drinks, knocked the ierophone off the tiny bandstand, and ropped money from his pocket onto he floor, clumsily stooping several imes to pick it up. Demon rum, owever, did not deter his talents: in act, a friend told me he played much etter than he did sober at his show last ear in the Power Center. Supported by marvelous group, Shaw played an mpressive, well-balanced show of ainstream jazz. The band kicked off with a medium- empo number which was soon cracked pen by Shaw's hard-blowing runs and issonant interval jumps, along with he viciousness of Victor Lewis' ercussive attack. THE SECOND TUNE, like the first nnamed, ran along similar lines of onstruction: a cleanly-stated melody, ollowed by a progression of solos by all and members (except the drummer), ith solo trade-offs';and the transitions rom melody to solo vamping and back winging smoothly on well-oiled hinges. Quite possibly, this was the Shaw and at its peak. As Shaw and soprano ax player, Carter Jefferson breezed hrough a whimsically dissonant triplet, heme, the band was firm, but sounding erry enough to conjure the image of slipping on a banana peel. Subsequent solos, however, took away the force of the joke, and laid down the truth of how dangerous that amusing slip can be. Shaw 's enthusiastic mid-to-upper-range work, a Shorter-influenced soprano sax solo; and the bubbling rhythm section turned this potentially light-hearted tune into a stand-out. There was an incendiary, intensity to the mid-song solos in both the first two numbers, which gratefully was without the too-often faked aura of spirituality and bullshit conceptualism that springs from taking one's intensity too seriously. THE ZENITH of the show's first half came during the next tune, bassist Clinton Houston's "Watership Down." Announced as a rhythm section feature, it might seem at first like an unusual Tipsy but tops The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, September 13, 1978-Page 7 DAILY EARLY BIRD MATINEES -- Adults 1 .25 DISCOUNT IS FOR SHOWS STARTING BEFORE 1:30 MON. ttwu SAT. 10 A.M. tl I:36 P.M. SUN. & HOLS. 12 Noon ti1 9:30 P.+4. EVENING ADMISSIONS AFTER 5:00, $3.50 ADULTS Monday-Saturday 1:30-5:00, Admission $2.50-Adult and Students Sundays and Holidays 1:30 to Close, $3.50 Adults, $2.50 Students Sunday-Thursday Evenings Student & Senior Citizen Discounts Children 12 And Under, Admissions $1.25 TICKET SALES 1. Tickets sold no sooner than 30 minutes prior to showtilne. 2. No tickets sold later than 15 minutes after showtime. I choice since it was not the rapid-fire stomp one might expect. Soon, though, it made perfect sense, with an intelligent chart and the richly melodic sense that informs so much of Houston's fine playing. Leaping into double and then quadruple-time treatments of the same melody, the band never needlessly fired up, instead maintaining, a very impressive warmth. After a somewhat lengthy intermission (which apparently was not used as sobering-up time) the group opened with "Rosewood," one of Shaw's best-known compositions. THE REAL MEAT followed "Rosewood" however, in a pair of songs composed by Shaw's pianist Onaje Gumbs. "Every Time I See You" was a soulfully forceful piece, sporting perhaps the best solo work Gumbs delivered all evening. Although Gumbs at times seemed too meticulous and unwilling to test out ideas,' his economical attempts to construct quiet solos that, don't have to shout to be li tened to - as the other band niembers' did - worked best in this setting. The next song, titled "All Things Being Equal . . . Or Not," was, startlingly, considerably more spectacular. A marvel of staunch delicacy, with 'the melody spun out nakedly by Shaw's sweet vibrato-less cornet lines, "All Things. . ." evolved into an intriguing and wonderful dialogue between bass and piano. No matter how good Onaje was on "Everytime", here is how I'll remember him: wafting melodies over to Houston, inching from soloing to supporting almost unnoticeably. Although the next tune, "Stepping Stone" from Shaw's forthcoming album, featured some eye-popping trade-offs between Shaw and Jefferson, it was a tad anticlimactic after "Alt Things ...". Years from now, when musicologists wish to get a fix on what jazz sounded like in the 1970's and how important it could be, they could do much worse than to uncover the work of Woody Shaw. Music historians will not search for Shaw when they are looking for pioneering zeal, or iconoclastic individuality, but as a definition of what jazz is really about, let's hope they know just where to go. Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERG Above, Woody Shaw relaxes between sets at the Earle Monday evening; below, Shaw gives the customers what they paid for. THE COI.AGOR4IVE I ' fall art and craft classes offered in the Michigan Union Classes and Workshops including: 'WEAVING I eRegister Now- Classes Start Oct. 2 U-M Arfists & Craftsmen Guild 763-4430 2nd Floor, Michigan Union English Subtitles EXHIBI TIONJ AND SALE New in town? For the latest in news, enter- tainment, sports . . . you should subscribe to Call 764-0558 to order your subscription today Y OF TINJE C5 Ps GPRINjTS M.H.T.P. presents for the benefit THE CHILD CARE ACTION CENTER (SCHOOL OF EDUCATION) II. i I r- Jean Luc Godard's 1959 BREATH LESS Godard's most popular film. A French gangster and an Ameri- can journalist carry on an affair, with the police on their heels. I m I F I'3.