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Eddie Shaw Sr.

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Eddie Shaw Sr.

Birth
Stringtown, Bolivar County, Mississippi, USA
Death
29 Jan 2018 (aged 80)
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Burial
Burial Details Unknown Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Eddie Shaw was born in Stringtown, Mississippi. During his teenage years, he played tenor saxophone with local blues musicians, such as Little Milton and Willie Love. At the age of 14, he played in a jam session in Greenville, Mississippi, with Ike Turner's band. At a gig in Itta Bena, Mississippi, when the then 20-year-old Shaw performed, Muddy Waters invited him to join his Chicago-based band.

In Waters's band, Shaw divided the tenor saxophone position with A.C. Reed. In 1972 he joined Howlin' Wolf, leading his band, the Wolf Gang, and writing half the songs on The Back Door Wolf (1973). After the singer's death in 1976 he took over the band and its residency at the 1815 Club, renamed Eddie's Place. Shaw led the band on Living Chicago Blues Vol. 1 and Have Blues Will Travel (1980) and recorded albums with different backing for Isabel Records, Rooster Blues, and Wolf Records.

Shaw's own recording career started in the late 1970s, with an appearance on the Alligator Records anthology Living Chicago Blues (1978) and his own LPs for Evidence and Rooster Blues, and more recent discs for Rooster Blues (In the Land of the Crossroads) and Wolf (Home Alone).

Shaw's many contributions to the blues included arranging tracks for The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions (which featured Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Ringo Starr and others) and performing with blues notables, including Hound Dog Taylor, Freddie King, Otis Rush and Magic Sam (on his Black Magic album).

In 2013 and 2014, Shaw won the Blues Music Award in the category Instrumentalist - Horn. May 3 is proclaimed Eddie Shaw Day in Chicago.

Shaw died in January 2018 in Chicago of natural causes, aged 80.

His survivors included sons, Eddie "Vaan" Shaw Jr. who joined the Wolf Gang and played on some of his father's recordings, using a unique three-neck Fender guitar. A disciple of Wolf's protege Hubert Sumlin, he has recorded two albums of his own: Morning Rain and The Trail of Tears; Stan Shaw, a character actor based in Hollywood, California; and daughter Darlene Shaw.

- Adapted from Wikipedia
Eddie Shaw was born in Stringtown, Mississippi. During his teenage years, he played tenor saxophone with local blues musicians, such as Little Milton and Willie Love. At the age of 14, he played in a jam session in Greenville, Mississippi, with Ike Turner's band. At a gig in Itta Bena, Mississippi, when the then 20-year-old Shaw performed, Muddy Waters invited him to join his Chicago-based band.

In Waters's band, Shaw divided the tenor saxophone position with A.C. Reed. In 1972 he joined Howlin' Wolf, leading his band, the Wolf Gang, and writing half the songs on The Back Door Wolf (1973). After the singer's death in 1976 he took over the band and its residency at the 1815 Club, renamed Eddie's Place. Shaw led the band on Living Chicago Blues Vol. 1 and Have Blues Will Travel (1980) and recorded albums with different backing for Isabel Records, Rooster Blues, and Wolf Records.

Shaw's own recording career started in the late 1970s, with an appearance on the Alligator Records anthology Living Chicago Blues (1978) and his own LPs for Evidence and Rooster Blues, and more recent discs for Rooster Blues (In the Land of the Crossroads) and Wolf (Home Alone).

Shaw's many contributions to the blues included arranging tracks for The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions (which featured Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Ringo Starr and others) and performing with blues notables, including Hound Dog Taylor, Freddie King, Otis Rush and Magic Sam (on his Black Magic album).

In 2013 and 2014, Shaw won the Blues Music Award in the category Instrumentalist - Horn. May 3 is proclaimed Eddie Shaw Day in Chicago.

Shaw died in January 2018 in Chicago of natural causes, aged 80.

His survivors included sons, Eddie "Vaan" Shaw Jr. who joined the Wolf Gang and played on some of his father's recordings, using a unique three-neck Fender guitar. A disciple of Wolf's protege Hubert Sumlin, he has recorded two albums of his own: Morning Rain and The Trail of Tears; Stan Shaw, a character actor based in Hollywood, California; and daughter Darlene Shaw.

- Adapted from Wikipedia

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