Robert Shaw (blues musician)
Encyclopedia
Robert Shaw was an American
blues
and boogie-woogie
pianist
, best known for his 1963 album
, The Ma Grinder.
, the son of farm owners Jesse and Hettie Shaw. The Shaws had a Steinway
grand piano and his sisters had lessons in playing, but Shaw's father was against his son learning the instrument
.
Shaw worked with his father on the family's ranch, and played the piano whenever his family was out; the first song he learned being "Aggravatin' Papa Don't You Try to Two-Time Me." In his adolescence, Shaw travelled to Houston to listen to jazz
musicians, and at nearby roadhouses. He then found a piano teacher and with his earnings paid for lessons.
He learned his barrelhouse
style of playing from musicians in the Fourth Ward, Houston. In the 1920s Shaw was part of the "Santa Fe Circuit", named after touring musicians utilising the Santa Fe
freight trains. Although he played in Chicago
, Shaw mainly restricted himself to Texas, and performed as a soloist in the clubs and roadhouses of Sugarland
, Richmond
, Kingsville
, Houston and Dallas. In 1930, at the height of the Kilgore
oil boom, Shaw played there, and two years on traveled to Kansas City
, Kansas
, to perform. In 1933 he hosted a radio show in Oklahoma City
. He relocated to Texas, first to Fort Worth
and then to Austin
. Here he settled down and took up residence, owning a grocery store known as the 'Stop and Swat'.
Shaw married Martha Landrum in December 1939, but they had no children. However, Shaw had previously been married, and had a daughter, Verna Mae, and a son, William. For many years Shaw ran his grocery business in Austin in partnership with Martha, and in 1962 was named the black businessman of the year in Austin.
In 1963, Shaw recorded
an album, originally called Texas Barrelhouse Piano, produced
by Robert "Mack" McCormick. It was originally released by McCormick's Almanac Book and Recording Company, and Chris Strachwitz
's Arhoolie Records
later reissued the LP, re-titled as The Ma Grinder. The album contained old favourites such as "The Ma Grinder", "The Cows" and "Whores Is Funky", some of them too risque
to have been issued previously.
In 1967, seven years before his retirement from the grocery trade, Shaw recommenced concert playing. With the revival of his career, he played at the Kerrville Folk Festival
, overseas in Amsterdam
, Frankfurt
, and at the Berlin Jazz Festival
; as well as the Smithsonian Institution
's American Folk Life Festival, the World's Fair Expo in Canada
, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
. He played with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
at the 1973 Austin Aqua Festival
, and continued to perform Stateside
and in Europe
intermittently during the 1970s, turning up unexpectedly in California
in 1981 to help Strachwitz celebrate Arhoolie's 20th anniversary.
Shaw died of a heart attack
in Austin, on May 16, 1985, and was interred at the Capital Memorial Gardens. Two weeks after his death, the Texas State Senate passed a resolution in honor of Shaw's contribution to the state's musical heritage.
, Bill Dahl described Shaw's self-penned track "The Cows", as "a piece of incredible complexity that would wilt anything less than a legitimate ivories master." Tony Russell, in his book, The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, cited The Ma Grinder as "offering a uniquely clear view of a style and repertoire that almost escaped preservation."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, best known for his 1963 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, The Ma Grinder.
Biography
Shaw was born in Stafford, TexasStafford, Texas
Stafford is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Stafford's population was 15,681....
, the son of farm owners Jesse and Hettie Shaw. The Shaws had a Steinway
Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway , is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg...
grand piano and his sisters had lessons in playing, but Shaw's father was against his son learning the instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
.
Shaw worked with his father on the family's ranch, and played the piano whenever his family was out; the first song he learned being "Aggravatin' Papa Don't You Try to Two-Time Me." In his adolescence, Shaw travelled to Houston to listen to jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians, and at nearby roadhouses. He then found a piano teacher and with his earnings paid for lessons.
He learned his barrelhouse
Barrelhouse
Barrelhouse can refer to:*A "juke joint", a bar or saloon. Originates from the storage of barrels of alcohol.*An early form of jazz with wild, improvised piano, and an accented two-beat rhythm ....
style of playing from musicians in the Fourth Ward, Houston. In the 1920s Shaw was part of the "Santa Fe Circuit", named after touring musicians utilising the Santa Fe
Santa Fe, Texas
Santa Fe is a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The town is named for the Santa Fe Railroad which runs through the town alongside State Highway 6.-History:...
freight trains. Although he played in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Shaw mainly restricted himself to Texas, and performed as a soloist in the clubs and roadhouses of Sugarland
Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. Sugar Land is one of the most affluent and fastest-growing cities in Texas, having grown more than 158 percent in the last decade. In the time period of 2000–2007, Sugar Land also enjoyed a...
, Richmond
Richmond, Texas
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,081 people, 3,413 households, and 2,628 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,975.4 people per square mile . There were 3,595 housing units at an average density of 965.3 per square mile...
, Kingsville
Kingsville, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,575 people, 8,943 households, and 6,134 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,848.8 people per square mile . There were 10,427 housing units at an average density of 753.8 per square mile...
, Houston and Dallas. In 1930, at the height of the Kilgore
Kilgore, Texas
Kilgore is a city in Gregg and Rusk Counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the home of Kilgore College, and was also the childhood home of famous classical pianist Van Cliburn...
oil boom, Shaw played there, and two years on traveled to Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, to perform. In 1933 he hosted a radio show in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
. He relocated to Texas, first to Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
and then to Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Here he settled down and took up residence, owning a grocery store known as the 'Stop and Swat'.
Shaw married Martha Landrum in December 1939, but they had no children. However, Shaw had previously been married, and had a daughter, Verna Mae, and a son, William. For many years Shaw ran his grocery business in Austin in partnership with Martha, and in 1962 was named the black businessman of the year in Austin.
In 1963, Shaw recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
an album, originally called Texas Barrelhouse Piano, produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Robert "Mack" McCormick. It was originally released by McCormick's Almanac Book and Recording Company, and Chris Strachwitz
Chris Strachwitz
Chris Strachwitz is a German-born American record label executive and record producer. He is the founder and president of Arhoolie Records, which he established in 1960 and which became one of the leading labels recording and issuing blues, Cajun, norteño and other forms of roots music from the...
's Arhoolie Records
Arhoolie Records
Arhoolie Records is a small record label run by Chris Strachwitz. The label was founded by Strachwitz in 1960 as a way for him to record and publish previously obscure "down home blues" artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin and Bill Gaither...
later reissued the LP, re-titled as The Ma Grinder. The album contained old favourites such as "The Ma Grinder", "The Cows" and "Whores Is Funky", some of them too risque
Risqué
Risqué is the third studio album by American R&B band Chic, released on Atlantic Records in 1979, the same year that Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers wrote and produced Sister Sledge's massively successful We Are Family....
to have been issued previously.
In 1967, seven years before his retirement from the grocery trade, Shaw recommenced concert playing. With the revival of his career, he played at the Kerrville Folk Festival
Kerrville Folk Festival
The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The event has run on a yearly basis since 1972. In November 2008, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival were acquired...
, overseas in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, and at the Berlin Jazz Festival
JazzFest Berlin
JazzFest Berlin is a jazz festival based in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" , it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. It is considered one of the world's premier jazz festivals...
; as well as the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
's American Folk Life Festival, the World's Fair Expo in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often known as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana...
. He played with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the name for numerous groups of Dixieland Jazz and traditional jazz bands at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on tours as organized by the Preservation Hall...
at the 1973 Austin Aqua Festival
Austin Aqua Festival
The Austin Aqua Festival was a ten day festival held the first week of August on the shores of Town Lake in Austin, Texas from 1962 until 1998...
, and continued to perform Stateside
Stateside
Stateside may refer to:* stateside, a slang term for the United States, usually used concerning an American currently outside the country, particularly in a military context* Stateside Records, the British record label...
and in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
intermittently during the 1970s, turning up unexpectedly in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1981 to help Strachwitz celebrate Arhoolie's 20th anniversary.
Shaw died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in Austin, on May 16, 1985, and was interred at the Capital Memorial Gardens. Two weeks after his death, the Texas State Senate passed a resolution in honor of Shaw's contribution to the state's musical heritage.
Discography
- The Ma Grinder (1963) - ArhoolieArhoolie RecordsArhoolie Records is a small record label run by Chris Strachwitz. The label was founded by Strachwitz in 1960 as a way for him to record and publish previously obscure "down home blues" artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin and Bill Gaither...
- "Ma Grinder" (Shaw) 4:13
- "Hattie Green" 4:41
- "Fives" 4:10
- "Black Gal" 8:46
- "Put Me in the Alley" (Shaw, Smith) 4:31
- "Groceries on My Shelf (Piggly Wiggly)" 4:00
- "The Clinton" 3:39
- "People, People" 5:57
- "The Cows" (Shaw, Shaw) 4:01
- "Whores Is Funky" 3:19
- "Here I Come With My Dirty, Dirty Duckings On" 3:58
- Texas Barrelhouse Piano (1980) - Arhoolie
Legacy
Allmusic journalistMusic journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
, Bill Dahl described Shaw's self-penned track "The Cows", as "a piece of incredible complexity that would wilt anything less than a legitimate ivories master." Tony Russell, in his book, The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, cited The Ma Grinder as "offering a uniquely clear view of a style and repertoire that almost escaped preservation."