BILLY SHAW

Billy Shaw's been pushing air through a brass pipe for two decades, blowing the avant garde and free jazz. Lately dubbed a "free jazz traditionalist," his acoustically based traditional trio approach to cutting edge noise has garnered attention since his 1993 release of "!Sassy!," a cult recording circulated through the underground for 10 years.

The "!Sassy!" era was cut short, overshadowed by the formation of the pioneering Death-Jazz trio Shovin' Sunshine (still available through Genterine Records) and the rise of the Fire-A-GoGo genre of post-avant-garde Death Jazz, as well as the ascension of a newer beast, Billy Shaw the tenor sax player.

Anybody can recognize Billy Shaw's sax playing once they've heard it. From bright saxxy iconoclasm to dark and smoky flocks of wild geese, Billy Shaw has held his own through two decades of cutting edge sax play until it's come down to this... "free jazz traditionalism."

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