Jazz Piano
Original Compositions

About Douglass

W. Douglass Shaw grew up in the Denver, Colorado area and first studied classical piano. He later learned to play jazz piano with the pianist Ted Alexander. He has also studied jazz piano in Denver with Gene Rush (former head of the jazz program at DU) and in Seattle with ECM recording artist Art Lande. Other musical influences for Douglass include the pianists Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Lyle Mays, Oscar Peterson, and Brad Mehldau, and composers William Schuman and Frank Zappa. In the late 1970’s he participated in the jazz programs at University of Colorado at Boulder and Denver. Over the years he has played or recorded with many musicians. He has played keyboards with the singers Jill Sobule, Ron Henry, Yvette Stewart, and Lannie Garrett, and played or performed with bluesman Gatemouth Brown, flutist Holly Hoffman, bassists Charlie Burrell, Kent McClagan, and Kim Stone, saxophonist and jazz educator Joe Andereis, and many other fine musicians. He led his own group, Clockworks, in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, performing regularly in Denver’s Larimer Square. He has performed at the Telluride Jazz Festival (with the late guitarist Kellis Ethridge) and at Denver’s Dazzle, among many other venues. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Les Zazous Left to right: Bobby Rangell, Mike Denny, Brad Elliott, Douglass Shaw, Marshall Wood, about 1978. — **Les Zazous** Left to right: Bobby Rangell, Mike Denny, Brad Elliott, Douglass Shaw, Marshall Wood, about 1978.

Music

Recorded July, August, and September, 2021, mostly at Boulder’s Coupe Studios (Taylor Marvin, engineer)

The band for these five tunes is made up of Phil (“Fly”) McClard, sax; Tim Hoy, drums; Douglass Shaw, keys; and Mike Miller, guitar on On the Way Up, Not Ready Yet, and DeRig Rig. The bassist is Steve Johnson (on Lizard on Leave), or Pete Hennig (on Not Ready Yet), or Chris Engleman (electric bass on On the Way Up, De Rig, and Local to Somewhere). Michael Maisonpierre plays the flute on Local to Somewhere.

Phil studied with Lee Konitz in New York. He played, toured, and/or recorded with Dusty Drapes and the Dusters, as well as Chris Daniels and the Kings, for many years. He has toured or recorded with the drummer Jerry Granelli, Steve Getz, pianist Dr. John, and blues guitarist Albert King, and he still lives and plays with several bands in the Denver/Boulder area; Tim plays professionally with the Phat Daddy dance band in Denver and has played with dozens of top musicians in the area, including Hazel Miller; Steve has played with several jazz and gypsy jazz groups in the Boulder-Denver area for over 30 years, and was a member of the New Orleans funk band, Mombo Combo. Pete Hennig played in the Denver area professionally for many years, with many different groups, and he lives and works in Boulder, Colorado today. Michael Maisonpierre teaches jazz and plays and lives in Boulder. Chris Engleman has been the house bassist in the E-town band for over 30 years, has played with dozens of top musicians including Allison Krause and James Taylor, and has appeared on over 100 albums or CDs. Mike Miller is a highly regarded professional guitarist in LA and he has recorded two solo albums. He has also recorded or toured with the drummer Peter Erskine, trombonist Bruce Fowler (a member of Frank Zappa’s band, The Mothers of Invention), Chic Corea’s Electric Band, Bette Midler, Gino Vannelli, and Brand X. Mike is currently again touring (Fall, 2021) as the lead guitarist with the singer, Boz Scaggs.

Recorded August, 2020, mostly at Boulder’s Coupe Studios (Taylor Marvin, engineer)

The band is made up of Phil (“Fly”) McClard, sax; Tim Hoy, drums; Steve Johnson, acoustic bass; Douglass Shaw, keys; and Mike Miller, guitar.

The band members’ bios are above. Douglass wrote the “Northwest” tune thinking about backpacking in the damp, cool forests in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. Mike Miller toured with singer, Boz Scaggs, prior to Covid shutting down live performances in 2020.

Recorded 2018 and 2019, mostly at Coupe Studios (Boulder, CO), Taylor Marvin (engineer)

The band again includes Phil (Fly) McClard on sax, Tim Hoy on drums, Mike Miller on acoustic and electric guitars (on Bad Boy and Alone, but not Alone), Michael Maisonpierre on flute, and this time includes Chris Engleman on bass.

Recorded 2018, University of Colorado Music Lab (Lucy Shaw, recording engineer)

This is a duo featuring Phil McClard, tenor sax (see info above) and Douglass on piano.

Recorded 1979 at Kerr Studios (Denver CO, Bill Kerr engineer)

The band was called Clockworks, led by W. Douglass Shaw

Joe Anderies, tenor sax, flute; Steve Owen, alto sax; Bob Newnam, trumpet; Pete Hennig, electric bass; Jeff Uhrlaub, drums; Bill Kerr, guitar; Douglass Shaw, keys

Joe has played with many jazz groups in the front range of Colorado, including the popular group Images. He was a jazz music educator in Denver and recently retired but is still active in the Denver jazz scene; Steve is program director of the jazz music division, U of Oregon; Bob lives and plays near Cortez, Colorado, as did Pete, who recently moved back to Boulder, CO; Jeff was the drummer in Denver jazz bands Wave and Shazam, and played drums with singer/songwriter Jill Sobule for several years; Bill still plays fusion and jazz rock in the Denver area.

Recorded December 11, 1978 at Applewood Studios (Denver, CO)

Early compositions by D. Shaw. The band was called Les Zazous, led by Bobby Rangell.

Bobby Rangell, tenor sax and flute (an older brother of Nelson’s); Mike Denny, guitar; Marshall Wood, electric bass; Brad Elliott, drums; Douglass Shaw (keys)

Bobby lives in Paris and played for a time with the French National jazz orchestra; Mike teaches in the jazz program at U of Oregon; Marshall lives near Boston. He has been the bassist for Tony Bennett for many years; Brad moved to the west coast but sadly passed away many years ago.