Biography
After years of remaining largely unnoticed, pianist and composer Lee Shaw stepped forward as a bandleader on multiple releases, among them the elegantly assembled Live in Graz CD/DVD package. Over her career she shaped a melodic and accessible keyboard approach to musical storytelling that occasionally echoed her early classical training. Oscar Peterson served as her earliest and most enduring jazz influence—she worked with him from time to time during her adult years—yet her own style revealed scant direct traces of Peterson beyond a prevailing sense of joy and affirmation. Recognition also came to her as a teacher; pianist John Medeski of Medeski, Martin & Wood was her best-known student.
Born in Ada, Oklahoma, on June 25, 1926, Shaw acquired her first musical exposure through visiting orchestras and a local concert series. She began playing by ear at age 11, absorbing Great American Songbook tunes from radio broadcasts while they were still new, although her formal instruction remained classical piano at the Oklahoma College for Women. The word “jazz,” she later recalled, stayed unfamiliar until she moved to Chicago for master’s studies at the American Conservatory of Music. Her original aim had been classical accompanying, but command of hundreds of popular songs opened solo engagements in Chicago restaurants and clubs, and a single encounter with the Count Basie band steered her more decisively toward jazz.
After meeting drummer Stan Shaw—whom she married six months later—the couple formed a piano trio, performed in Puerto Rico, and relocated to New York City, where they appeared at Birdland and The Village Vanguard. Although leaders such as Lionel Hampton attempted to recruit Lee, Stan declined these offers, and the pair continued working in trio format. In 1971 they settled in Albany, New York, collaborating there with visiting artists including Al Grey, Dexter Gordon, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Chico Hamilton, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Thad Jones, and Pepper Adams. Following Stan Shaw’s death in 2001, Lee sustained her trio with bassist Rich Syracuse and drummer Jeff “Siege” Siegel until her passing in October 2015 at the age of 89.
Born in Ada, Oklahoma, on June 25, 1926, Shaw acquired her first musical exposure through visiting orchestras and a local concert series. She began playing by ear at age 11, absorbing Great American Songbook tunes from radio broadcasts while they were still new, although her formal instruction remained classical piano at the Oklahoma College for Women. The word “jazz,” she later recalled, stayed unfamiliar until she moved to Chicago for master’s studies at the American Conservatory of Music. Her original aim had been classical accompanying, but command of hundreds of popular songs opened solo engagements in Chicago restaurants and clubs, and a single encounter with the Count Basie band steered her more decisively toward jazz.
After meeting drummer Stan Shaw—whom she married six months later—the couple formed a piano trio, performed in Puerto Rico, and relocated to New York City, where they appeared at Birdland and The Village Vanguard. Although leaders such as Lionel Hampton attempted to recruit Lee, Stan declined these offers, and the pair continued working in trio format. In 1971 they settled in Albany, New York, collaborating there with visiting artists including Al Grey, Dexter Gordon, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Chico Hamilton, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Thad Jones, and Pepper Adams. Following Stan Shaw’s death in 2001, Lee sustained her trio with bassist Rich Syracuse and drummer Jeff “Siege” Siegel until her passing in October 2015 at the age of 89.
Albums
Singles
