Lee Shaw (June 25, 1926 – October 25, 2015), was an American jazz pianist and composer. Born Londa Lee Moore in

Cushing, Oklahoma Cushing ( sac, Koshineki, iow, Amína P^óp^oye Chína, ''meaning: "Soft-seat town"'') is a city in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,826 at the time of the 2010 census, a decline of 6.5% since 8,371 in 2000. Cushing w ...

, but raised in

Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, Tur ...

, Shaw would listen to the radio then play on the piano the songs she heard, as well as learn songs from the

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" is ...

Background

Shaw studied piano classically at

Oklahoma College for Women The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) is a public liberal arts college in Chickasha, Oklahoma. It is the only public college in Oklahoma with a strictly liberal arts–focused curriculum and is a member of the Council of Public ...

and obtained a master's degree at the

American Conservatory of Music The American Conservatory of Music (ACM) was a major American school of music founded in Chicago in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931). The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It developed the Conservato ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It was there that she met drummer Stan Shaw in 1961. They married within six months and formed the Lee Shaw Trio, playing pop standards in restaurants and nightclubs around Chicago. She claimed to have never heard the term "jazz" until attending a

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

concert. She studied with

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

, who offered his tutelage after hearing her play.

Lee Shaw Trio

The Lee Shaw Trio performed extensively across the country, including in her native Oklahoma, where she was inducted into the

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization that honors jazz, blues and gospel music, gospel musicians in the state of Oklahoma. Housed in the former Union Depot (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Tulsa Union Depot, wh ...

in June 1993. With Stan's health decline in the late-1990s and death in 2001, the trio was reformed and, every year from 2007 to 2009, toured Europe. A concert in Austria, recorded by the

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

, was the basis for the 2008 album and DVD, ''Live in Graz''.

Documentary

In 2013, filmmaker Susan Robbins began working on a documentary about Shaw, titled ''Lee's 88 Keys'', after meeting her in 1998 and later attending the frail woman's memorable performance years later. The documentary was released in April 2015. Shaw attended and accepted the 2015 Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalists' Association.

Health and death

In January 2015, Shaw was hospitalized for pneumonia, heart attack and stroke, which were considered complications from

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

. She had also survived three types of cancer. She recovered with rehabilitation and entered a nursing home, where she still played piano. On October 25, 2015, Shaw died in a hospice in

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

. She was 89.

Discography

* ''Lee Shaw OK!'' (

Cadence In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (1999) ...

, 1984) * ''Essence'' (

CIMP Creative Improvised Music Projects, usually abbreviated CIMP or C.I.M.P., is an American jazz record company and label. It is associated with ''Cadence Magazine'' and Cadence Jazz Records. The label is noted for its minimal use of electronic proc ...

, 1997) * ''A Place for Jazz'' (Cadence, 2002) * ''Together Again'' with John Medeski (ARC, 2010) * ''Live at Caspe Terrace'' (Cadence, 2014)

References

External links

*
Lee Shaw
at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Lee 1926 births 2015 deaths American jazz pianists Jazz musicians from Oklahoma University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma alumni American Conservatory of Music alumni 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists 21st-century American women pianists