Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Hank Shaw was born Henry Shalofsky was born  June 23, 1926 in London, England. At the age of 15 he played with Teddy Foster’s band during World War II. In the latter half of the decade he played around his hometown with Oscar Rabin, Frank Weir, and Tommy Sampson, then switched permanently from swing to playing bebop music in 1946 after hearing Dizzy Gillespie.

Visiting the United States in 1947 he came with close friend and fellow pioneer bebopper altoist Freddy Syer. However, unable to secure work permits they moved to Canada where they played with Oscar Peterson and Maynard Ferguson. Returning to England in 1948, Hank was one of the early Club Eleven players, along with Ronnie Scott, John Dankworth, Lennie Bush, and others. He also played with many of these musicians on the recordings of Alan Dean’s Beboppers.

After Club Eleven shuttered, Shaw played with Vic Lewis and toured Europe with Cab Kaye, then joined Jack Parnell’s ensemble in 1953 and Ronnie Scott’s nonet in 1954. He joined Jamaican alto saxophonist Joe Harriott in his celebrated quintet in 1958 but left with pianist Harry South when Harriott sought to introduce his “free-form” concept. Shaw played regularly both live and as a session musician for many British jazz musicians over the course of the next twenty or so years, working with Joe Harriott, Tony Crombie, Don Rendell, Tony Kinsey, Stan Tracey, Bill Le Sage, and others.

He led a quartet at the 100 Club in the Sixties, and played in the Bebop Preservation Society and the John Burch Quartet for over two decades each. He retired due to ill health in the late 1990s. Bebop trumpeter Hank Shaw transitioned four months past his 80th birthday on October 26, 2006 in Kent, England.

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