Charles Bobo Shaw

An outstanding free drummer who was also able and willing to get funky at any time, Charles "Bobo" Shaw's playing was rhythmically diverse and alternately intense or relaxed, frenetic or steady. Shaw studied drums with Ben Thigpen, and briefly doubled on trombone and bass. He was one of the founders of the St. Louis-based Black Artists Group in the '60s. Shaw and other BAG members went to Europe later in the '60s, and Shaw played free jazz in Paris for a year with Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Frank Wright, Alan Silva, and Michel Portal. He returned to St. Louis in the '70s, an...