{{short description|American blues saxophonist and bandleader (1937–2018)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Eddie Shaw | image = Eddie Shaw at Kingston Mines.JPG | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1937|03|20|mf=y}} | birth_place = Stringtown, Mississippi, United States | death_date = {{death date and age|2018|1|29|1937|03|20|mf=y}} | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States | instrument = Tenor saxophone | genre = Chicago blues | occupation = Saxophonist, songwriter | years_active = Early 1950s – 2018 | label = Various | website = }}
'''Eddie Shaw''' (March 20, 1937 – January 29, 2018)<ref name="AMG"/> was an American Chicago blues tenor saxophonist, arranger and bandleader. He led Howlin' Wolf's band, the Wolf Gang, from 1972, both before Wolf's death in 1976 and subsequently.
==Biography== Shaw was born in Stringtown, Mississippi.<ref name="AMG">{{cite web|author=Dahl, Bill |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/eddie-shaw-mn0000795387/biography |title=Eddie Shaw: Biography |publisher=AllMusic.com |date=March 20, 1937 |access-date=2014-01-26}}</ref> In his teenage years, Shaw played tenor saxophone with local blues musicians, such as Little Milton and Willie Love.<ref name="russell">{{cite book | first= Tony | last= Russell | year= 1997 | title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray | publisher= Carlton Books | location= Dubai | pages= 165–166 | isbn= 1-85868-255-X}}</ref> 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.<ref name="AMG"/>
In Waters's band, Shaw divided the tenor saxophone position with A.C. Reed.<ref name="russell"/> 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.<ref name="russell"/>
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'').<ref name="AMG"/>
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).
One of his sons, Eddie "Vaan" Shaw Jr. (born November 6, 1955),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZufy6sKmN0C&q=%22Eddie+%22Vaan%22+Shaw+Jr.%22.+%22Born%22&pg=PA190|title=''Today's Chicago Blues''|isbn=9781893121195|access-date=November 4, 2014|last1=Hanson|first1=Karen|year=2007|publisher=Lake Claremont Press }}</ref> 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 protégé Hubert Sumlin, he has recorded two albums of his own – ''Morning Rain'' and ''The Trail of Tears''.<ref name="russell" /> Another son, Stan Shaw (born 1952), is a character actor based in Hollywood, California.<ref name="AMG" />
Shaw appeared in the 2007 film ''Honeydripper''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2008-01-18/582339/|title='Honeydripper' Blues|last=Moser|first=Margaret|date=January 18, 2018|website=The Austin Chronicle|language=en-US}}</ref>
Shaw died in January 2018 in Chicago of natural causes, aged 80.<ref>[http://bgindependentmedia.org/eddie-shaw-favorite-of-bg-blues-fans-dies-at-80/ "Eddie Shaw, favorite of BG blues fans, dies at 80", ''BG Independent News'', January 30, 2018]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/reich/ct-ent-eddie-shaw-dead-0201-story.html|title=Eddie Shaw, who brought saxophone energy to the blues, dies at 80|first=Howard|last=Reich|website=Chicagotribune.com|date=January 31, 2018 |access-date=April 12, 2018}}</ref>
==Accolades== In 2011, Shaw was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Benoit, Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/eddie-shaw|title=Eddie Shaw|website=Mississippi Blues Trail|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref>
In 2013 and 2014, Shaw won the Blues Music Award in the category Instrumentalist – Horn.<ref name="The Blues Foundation">{{cite web|url=https://blues.org/#ref=bluesmusicawards_pastyears|title=The Blues Foundation, Blues Music Awards, Past Blues Music Awards, 2013 – 34th Blues Music Awards|publisher=Blues.org|access-date=May 17, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blues.about.com/od/bluesawards/a/2014-Blues-Music-Awards.htm|title=2014 Blues Music Awards Nominees and Winners|publisher=Blues.about.com|access-date=2014-05-16|archive-date=November 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112120258/http://blues.about.com/od/bluesawards/a/2014-Blues-Music-Awards.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
May 3 became Eddie Shaw Day in Chicago, by proclamation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taiphim.tv/may-3rd-becomes-eddie-shaw-day-in-chicago-illinois-18724195?tag=May%203rd%20chicago|title=May 3 Becomes Eddie Shaw Day in Chicago Illinois|publisher=Taiphim.tv|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105022006/http://taiphim.tv/may-3rd-becomes-eddie-shaw-day-in-chicago-illinois-18724195?tag=May%203rd%20chicago|archive-date=November 5, 2014|access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref>
In 2014, Shaw was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://knox.villagesoup.com/p/1115671|title=Blues Hall of Fame to induct Shaw - Knox VillageSoup|date=February 14, 2014|website=VillageSoup • Knox}}</ref>
==Discography== *1982: ''Movin' and Groovin' Man'' (Evidence) *1986: ''King of the Road'' (Rooster Blues) *1992: ''In the Land of the Crossroads'' (Rooster Blues) *1995: ''Home Alone'' (Wolf) *1996: ''The Blues Is Nothing but Good News!'' (Wolf) *1997: ''Can't Stop Now'' (Delmark) *1999: ''Too Many Highways'', recorded 1996 (Wolf) *2005: ''Give Me Time'' (Wolf)<ref name="Albums">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/eddie-shaw-mn0000795387/discography |title=Eddie Shaw: Discography |publisher=AllMusic.com |date=March 20, 1937 |access-date=2014-01-26}}</ref> *2012: ''Still Riding High'', as Eddie Shaw and the 757 Allstars (Stringtown)
'''With Howlin' Wolf''' *''The Real Folk Blues'' (Chess, 1956-64 [1965]) *''Live and Cookin''' (Chess, 1972) *''The Back Door Wolf'' (Chess, 1973)
'''With Magic Sam''' *''Magic Sam Live'' (Delmark, 1963/64 [1981]) *''The Magic Sam Legacy'' (Delmark, 1967/68 [1989]) *''Rockin' Wild in Chicago'' (Delmark, 1963/64 [2002])
==See also== *List of Chicago blues musicians
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Eddie}} Category:1937 births Category:2018 deaths Category:People from Bolivar County, Mississippi Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists Category:American male saxophonists Category:American blues saxophonists Category:Songwriters from Mississippi Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi Category:Chicago blues musicians Category:Songwriters from Illinois Category:Jazz musicians from Illinois Category:Jazz musicians from Mississippi Category:American male jazz musicians Category:Mississippi Blues Trail Category:African-American male songwriters Category:20th-century African-American musicians Category:20th-century American saxophonists