The Woody Shaw® Institute of Global Arts

“Now there’s a great trumpet player. He can play different from all of them.”
— Miles Davis

The Woody Shaw® Institute of Global Arts exists to preserve the legacy of late trumpet master and musical icon Woody Shaw (1944-1989), a renowned jazz innovator whose legacy of musical and instrumental innovation has been preserved in conjunction with fellow jazz legend and collaborator Dexter Gordon’s - for the past three decades. The institute is a programmatic subdivision of The Dexter Gordon Society, Inc., a New York-based nonprofit corporation and 501(c)(3) public charity.

All contributions made specifically to support the preservation of Woody Shaw’s legacy are fully tax-deductible and are allocated to the vision and mission of The Woody Shaw Institute of Global Arts.

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VISION

"[The Woody Shaw® Institute of Global Arts] is dedicated to the youth who will benefit mankind. To the youth who are constantly aware of the turmoil in which the world is and who are trying to right all these wrongs - whether in music or in speech or in any other form of positive work. . . This music is meant to be a light of hope, a sound of strength, and of coming through. . . confidence that we’ll over come these things."

— Woody Shaw, Blackstone Legacy, 1970

MISSIOn

  • To honor, preserve, and perpetuate the artistic legacy and positive social and musical message of late creative visionary, trumpet innovator, bandleader, arranger, composer, mentor and educator, Woody Shaw® (1944-1989).

  • To increase international awareness, appreciation, and understanding of Woody Shaw's life work and contribution to the trumpet and American music.

  • To ensure the ongoing performance and study of Woody Shaw's original music by new and diverse audiences around the world and to preserve and maintain existing Woody Shaw archival recordings, historical documentation, research, and other rare and precious artifacts of his life, legacy, and music.

  • To support the creation of new works (musical, audiovisual, literary, cinematic, educational, technological) inspired by his creative vision.


  • To uphold Woody Shaw's unique standards of excellence, innovation, and integrity — and to support the development and cultivation of positive humanistic ideals through education, artistic expression, outreach, cross-cultural collaboration and "any other forms of positive work" that help inspire and uplift the human condition.

 
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“Woody Shaw is one of the voices of the future.”
—Dizzy Gillespie

“He was truly one of the greatest.”
—Max Roach

”Woods covers the whole spectrum.”
—Dexter Gordon