 |
|
"Strong muscular piano on the one hand, and whimsical, delicate piano on the other . . . a two-handed player." Downbeat |
Lee Shaw began her career as a jazz pianist at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago. There she performed on the same bill with such luminaries as Anita O'Day, Billie Holliday, Jackie Cain, Roy Kral, Sarah Vaughn and Roy Haynes. In 1961, Lee and her husband and drummer Stan, formed an internationally acclaimed piano trio. They appeared in clubs and concerts throughout the United States, including New Orleans, New York City, Sugarbush VT, Wilmington DE, Milwaukee WI. The Lee Shaw Trio released their first album in 1984, "Lee Shaw OK!," on the Cadence Jazz label, a recording of a live performance which was a highlight of the trio's month-long tour of Oklahoma, Lee's home state. She was interviewed, along with 40 other women artists, for Mary Unterbrink's book, Jazz Women at the Keyboard (1983, McFarland & Co. Inc.). Lee was also mentioned in Leslie Gorse's 1994 book, Madame Jazz. In 1988, the Parsons School of Design sponsored a fundraiser to create a piano scholarship at the New School for its burgeoning Jazz Program: Lee performed - along with Toshiko Akiyoshi, John Bunch, Jackie Byard, Gil Goldstein, Sir Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, Dick Hyman, Roger Kellaway and Larry Willis - at their second annual "I Love A Piano" concert series. Lee was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993, joining Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, Cecil McBee, Ruth Brown and a host of other talented jazz musicians. She was invited to appear on Marian McParland's Piano Jazz syndicated radio program. NPR hailed her, along with McPartland and the late Mary Lou Williams, as "one of jazz's premier pianists." |
