Bobby Shew
b. 4 March 1941, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Shew taught himself to play trumpet and was playing semi-professionally as he entered his teens. During military service he decided to make music his career and soon in 1964, after his discharge became a member of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. The following year he moved on to Woody Herman, then Buddy Rich, and thereafter took a succession of jobs with bands in hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. In the early '70s he settled in Los Angeles, playing in the studios but also working jazz gigs, including a sustained period with the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin big band. His spell with the band produced many fine albums, notably KOGUN (1974), TALES OF A COURTESAN (1975) and INSIGHTS (1976). Also during the '70s he played in many Los Angeles-based rehearsal bands, including Don Menza's and Juggernaut. He played, too, in small groups, as well as teaching privately and directing clinics and workshops. In the late '70s he toured Europe and the UK with Louie Bellson's big band, appearing on some of the live recordings: DYNAMITE! (1979) and LONDON SCENE (1980). During these tours he expanded his teaching activities wherever he went. In the '80s Shew's playing was mostly in small groups, as both sideman and leader, but he made occasional appearances with youth bands including the UK's Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, with whom he recorded AIM FOR THE HEART in 1987. In the late '80s and early '90s Shew's teaching role developed still further and he remains in great demand around the world. In performance he rarely uses his spectacularly wide range simply for its own sake. The soft, warm sound he creates from his instrument is especially suitable for ballads and lends a distinctive quality to any trumpet section in which he appears. An important influence through his teaching activities, Shew is ensuring that in a period when dazzling technical proficiency is becoming almost commonplace the emotional qualities of jazz are not forgotten.