Arvell Shaw, 79; Bassist With Key Figures in Jazz

Arvell Shaw, a bassist who played with several of the leading figures in jazz but was best known for his 25-year association with Louis Armstrong, has died. He was 79.

Shaw died Dec. 5 of an apparent heart attack at his home in New York City.

Born in St. Louis, he began playing tuba and trombone in high school and learned double bass on Mississippi riverboats while playing with pianist Fate Marable.

Shaw was in Navy bands during World War II. After his discharge, he returned to St. Louis and was working in local bars and clubs. When Armstrong’s bassist left the trumpeter’s orchestra during a stop in the Missouri city, the local musicians union suggested Shaw as a replacement.

Shaw played in the orchestra from 1945 until Armstrong disbanded it in 1947.

When Armstrong formed a septet, which included such legendary players as Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines, he included Shaw as the bassist.

Until Armstrong’s death in 1971, Shaw had a fairly steady role with the jazz great. He can be heard on much of Armstrong’s recorded work during that period.

For years after Armstrong’s death, Shaw recounted that playing with him was pure joy.

“Some nights I’d be standing next to Louie as he played, and he’d give me goose pimples, because the man had so much power, so much emotion that sometimes it would bring tears to your eyes, and you try to fight the tears back and you just couldn’t,” Shaw told Newsday last year.

He also appeared with Armstrong in the films “High Society” and “The Glenn Miller Story.” More recently, Shaw was in the Ken Burns documentary series “Jazz” on PBS.

Besides Armstrong, Shaw played with other leading jazz figures of the day, including Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Sidney Bechet and Coleman Hawkins.

Information on survivors was not immediately available.