Woody Shaw talks about his home town and early days

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Woody Shaw talks about living close to Manhattan as a young musician

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Woody Shaw on songwriting

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Q: “How do you go about writing tunes? Are you a sit-down-and-do-it writer or one who thinks it out in your head and then sort of talks the parts out to the band, plays a bit for them? Are you formal or informal in your creating?”

A: “I can be both. You know, usually I'll conceive a title first and write from my impressions of something or person and it usually comes from my head. You know, if it's an involved arrangement or has a lot of changes, you know, a tricky figure, I'll write it out, you know, because it's too difficult to explain. But basically, I expect the sensitivity of people playing with me, too, to have enough intuitive sense, whereas I can explain an idea to them and they can pick it up. Fortunately for me, I'm a pretty good teacher. You know, I guess it's natural, you know, but I can be both formal and informal, you know.”