The second run of releases in the Muse Master Edition Series includes Love Dance, the 1976 masterpiece by legendary trumpeter Woody Shaw. It’s part of the second batch of releases from Time Traveler Recordings, the new archival label founded by record producer and “jazz detective” Zev Feldman, following the October 2025 releases from Carlos Garnett, Roy Brooks, and Kenny Barron, the latter two of which I reviewed at the time.
Love Dance is a sterling example of soulful ’70s jazz, Shaw’s second release for Muse. For it, Shaw enlisted an amazing ensemble of young progressive players: saxophonists Billy Harper and René McLean, trombonist Steve Turre, pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Victor Lewis and percussionists Guilherme Franco and Tony Waters. I mean, those are some serious names with serious talent, and it shows right from the beginning in the opening track, the Latinesque “Love Dance.” Shaw shows great presence in his soloing, as does the renowned Steve Turre on trombone, and the whole ensemble just cooks!
“Obsequious” is a a straight ahead large ensemble bop with lots of room for the players to stretch out. Harper kicks it off with a driving tenor solo, Bonner goes to town on the keyboard, Shaw and bassist McBee take long solos, and drummer Lewis and alto saxophonist McLean swap some solo time as well. Turre on what sounds like a bass trombone and McBee on double bass lay down an infectious bottom vamp under the languid proceedings of “Sunbath” by pianist Peggy Stern; Bonner takes an angular solo here, but this one’s all about that groove. Another very uptempo bop is Shaw’s “Zoltan,” his tribute to Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly, with some exciting horn textures provided by McLean on soprano sax and Turre again on the bass trombone, bracketing Woody and Billy on the unison vamps. René’s soprano solo works very well in this setting, too.
Time Traveler is making this great album of progressive hard bop available on deluxe vinyl in equally deluxe packaging with a new liner essay by Grammy winning jazz writer Bob Blumenthal. “There will be other Woody Shaw albums to come in the Muse Master Edition Series,” Feldman says, “but we thought this would be a really great one to start with.” He’s right, as usual.
(Muse, 1976/Time Traveler, 2026)
