JAZZ REVIEW : WOODY SHAW’S TRUMPET POLISHES OLD STANDARDS

Woody Shaw, the trumpeter and composer, came up through the hard-bop ranks in the early 1960s, with side trips into free jazz. Thursday evening, Shaw the trumpeter was in town, but Shaw the composer stayed home.

It’s an all-too familiar story. Despite his brilliant record as a leader of groups and writer of challenging works for them, Shaw had to hire a local rhythm section for his appearance at the Palace Court (ending tonight). Since there were no rehearsals, everything played was a standard well known to the participants.

Though it was impossible to convey a full picture of Shaw’s artistry, his performance rose nobly above these conditions. Opening with “What’s New,” taken at an abnormally fast clip, he left no doubt during half a dozen swirling choruses that his bold, assertive style and total control can find few counterparts on the contemporary scene.

In the old movie theme “Invitation,” he maintained a solo warmth most trumpeters cannot achieve without switching to the fluegelhorn. Thelonious Monk’s “Bemsha Swing” found the pianist, Henry Butler, in a puckish, Monkish mood. Elsewhere during the set Butler displayed chops galore, but was inclined to floridity and to overplaying behind the horn solos.

For a ballad interlude, Shaw used a 1957 Sinatra hit, “All the Way,” a splendid vehicle for his more harmonically oriented explorations. A fast blues, with Butler in an adventurous outside groove, ended the set.

Shaw was fortunate to have on hand Billy Higgins, long the most dependable among the Southland’s drummers, and Tony Dumas, a bassist who functions dually as a rhythmic foundation and a spirited, melodic soloist.