[Dixielandjazz] Arvell Shaw Obit

[Stephen Barbone]

Sad news. Arvell Shaw was the guy who when I met Armstrong in the mid
1950s, gently told me not to call him Looie. (after I had just done so)
He said something like, you can all him Pops, or Satch, or Louis (Lewis)
but don't call him Looie. Only those who don't know him call him that.

Steve Barbone

December 10, 2002 - New York Times

Arvell Shaw, Jazz Bassist, Dies at 79

By DOUGLAS MARTIN

       Arvell Shaw, a swinging bassist whose thumping, straight-ahead
style gave musical backbone to Louis Armstrong's genius for a
quarter-century, died on Thursday at his home in Roosevelt, N.Y. He was
79. The apparent cause was a heart attack, said Cynthia Moton, his
companion.

Mr. Shaw began playing with the Louis Armstrong Orchestra in 1945, and
when Armstrong disbanded the orchestra in 1947, he was one of the first
members of a septet called Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars. Mr. Shaw
was the last of the original group, which also included Jack Teagarden,
Earl Hines, Big Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard, Dick Cary and the vocalist
Velma Middleton.

Michael Cogswell, director of the Louis Armstrong House and Archives of
Queens College, said only a handful of the many musicians who played
with the All-Stars over the years are still living. "He was one of the
last of his generation," Mr. Cogwell said. "He was a rock-solid
rhythm-section bass player."

Mr. Shaw's bearlike frame hulking over the bass and his almost constant
smile were his trademarks. He once said that playing with Armstrong was
his God-ordained mission, and he played that way. He also performed with
Benny Goodman and many others. But he was best known for his long
collaboration with Armstrong. Mr. Shaw appeared with him in the films
"The Glenn Miller Story" in 1954 and "High Society" in 1956.

Arvell James Shaw was born in St. Louis on Sept. 15, 1923. In an
interview for the 2001 Ken Burns documentary, "Jazz," he said his father
took him to see Armstrong perform when he was 8 or 9 at the Comet
Theater there. "I'd heard a few records of him but when he walked out on
that stage and started playing, it was like an electric shock went up my
spine," he said.

He played the tuba and trombone in his high school band and switched to
the double bass while in the Navy in the early 1940's. The bandmaster
chose him because he was the tallest.

In 1945 Armstrong was in St. Louis when his bassist left the band
temporarily while his wife had a baby. Armstrong asked the local
musicians' union for the best bass player, and Mr. Shaw, back home in
the West End of St. Louis, got the call. "I was only supposed to be in
the band three weeks, and it turned out to be 25 years," Mr. Shaw said
in a 1996 interview with WHPC-FM, the station of Nassau Community
College in Garden City, N.Y.

Mr. Shaw called himself one of the luckiest men who ever lived, because
of the opportunity to play with Armstrong. The All-Stars' travels took
them all over the world, including the Congo during civil strife. Both
sides came to see the group and sat side by side, cheering. When the
audience left, they resumed fighting.

For much of his time with the band, Mr. Shaw came and went in order to
be home to help raise his daughter Victoria, who has autism. He often
played for charities helping people with developmental disabilities,
particularly Plus Group Homes.

In addition to Victoria Patsy Shaw and Ms. Moton, he is survived by his
brother, Rudy of Charlotte, N.C., and his sister, Marvella of St. Louis.

During the 1970's and early 80's, Mr. Shaw played with bands for the
Broadway shows "Bubbling Brown Sugar" and "Ain't Misbehaving." He said
in an interview with Newsday last year that he would keep playing music
until he dropped. Though blinded by glaucoma, he seemed to be having a
great time playing and singing in his deep voice on a chartered jazz
theme cruise last month. His most frequent solo was a version of
Armstrong's hit "What a Wonderful World."