by Jim Crawford
If you're from Mississippi and you've played the Blues all your life chances are you play guitar. Right? Legendary Bluesman Eddie Shaw took a different route into Blues immortality by playing the saxophone starting from scratch in the school band where he grew up. Eddie was born in 1937, in Benoit, Mississippi, and grew up in nearby Greenville. "We lived next door to the school and we had band practice every day at 3:30," Eddie explains. "There were no guitars, just reed and brass instruments and the drums. I played the trombone and clarinet for two or three years and then somebody gave me a sax and I've been at it ever since. It's been pretty good to me." Coming up, Eddie hung out with the likes of Little Milton Campbell, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, L.V. Banks and others, who would make their mark during the heyday of the Chicago Blues scene. Lots of jazz and Blues players came out of Eddie's high school and he and his good buddy Oliver Sain spent their time playing in the many jump Blues bands in and around Greenville during that time. These bands used sophisticated arrangements and multiple horn sections where Eddie and Sain were part of the whole ensemble. Then things started happening in 1957 when Eddie sat in on a gig with Muddy Waters in Itta Bena, Miss. and so impressed Muddy that he hired Eddie right then and there. Next thing he knew, the 20-year-old Eddie was in Chicago playing with the hottest Blues band in the country. Word got out about Eddie's prowess on the sax and he was soon hired in Howlin' Wolf's band. Muddy and Wolf had a legendary rivalry going on at the time and Eddie found himself right in the middle of it. He'd play a few months with one and then a few months with the other. "Those were some of the best times on my life," Eddie fondly recalls. "I ended up staying with Wolf for 14 years. I always got along with him just fine. He had a reputation as a hard man to get along with but he treated me and the rest of the band just fine. As long as you was doing your job you wouldn't have any problems. He was one of the first musicians I know of who had insurance on his band members and took a little bit of tax out of their paychecks so if they were laid off they could collect their unemployment. That was unheard of at the time in a Blues band." Eddie's resume is impressive. He didn't limit his time to Muddy and Wolf. During down time Eddie did stints with nearly all of the legendary Chicago Bluesmen. "I've played with them all, in and out of bands, up and down the highway," Eddie says. "Freddie King, Jimmy Reed, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Johnny Taylor, you name them and I've probably played with them at one time or another. In those days it was all about who would pay the most. "Still is," he says with a laugh. "During the week I might work with Jimmy Dawkins and them for two or three nights, then it might be Magic Sam for two nights and then Freddie King for a night or two. I was the horn player for all of those guys. I didn't worry about knowing their music. I'd been at it long enough that I knew everybody's style. " Eddie says he liked working with all of the legends but his loyalty remains with Howlin' Wolf. "I loved the Wolf because he gave me the most rope," Eddie explains. "I paid the bills, collected the money. He would tell me how much to give the guys and I would handle the payroll, take care of the day-to-day business. "All the time I was with him he always drove Pontiac Catalina station wagons," Eddie recalls. "Every couple of years he'd get a new one. He sent me to the dealer and told me to get what I wanted and he'd give me a check, sign it and I could fill in the numbers. One time I called him and said 'They've got three down here to choose from.' He said 'Eddie, I told you to get what you wanted. Right now I'm busy rehearsing my guitar part. Now get what you want and don't be calling me again.' He didn't care about the color, number of cylinders, none of that stuff. All of that just showed me he respected me. "I loved Muddy too, but his was a different kind of operation," Eddie says. "Muddy always wanted to be the king of the hill. He was his own boss and did things his way. He was a good man, too." In the early days tour buses were a luxury not yet enjoyed even by the most popular Blues bands. "There would be all five of us in that Pontiac station wagon," Eddie recalls with a laugh. "And the equipment too. You sure get to know one another pretty fast. You also get to know how each guy smells before it's over. I wouldn't trade those days for anything." In addition to working with the elite Bluesmen of the day, Eddie fronted his own band at various times using guitar players such as Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, Magic Sam, and Jesse Robinson. He played on recording sessions with all of the big artists of the day and occasionally took his band into the studio to record dubs for promotional use and on local radio and TV programs. An instrumental called "Blues For The West Side," became a minor Chicago hit when it was issued as a single by Colt Records. He's also a prolific songwriter having written for the likes of Willie Dixon, Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon, Magic Sam, and Howlin' Wolf, and contributed horn arrangements to sessions by Muddy, Wolf, and others. Eddie also famously had a big hand in arranging tracks for The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, which featured a Who's Who of British musicians such as Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Ringo Starr, Steve Winwood along with Wolf's lead guitarist, the legendary Hubert Sumlin. "As far as I know, I'm the only one who ever wrote something Willie Dixon ever recorded that he didn't write himself," Eddie says. "I always wrote songs for everybody else and not for myself." As if he didn't have enough to keep himself busy Eddie was usually involved in some sort of side business , such as an air conditioning and refrigeration service, a laundromat, a barbecue joint, and a bar, which was famous for its all-star Monday night jam sessions. "Wolf told me if I was gonna own a Blues club, he was gonna play in it," Eddie recalls. "He played there many times. He'd pack 'em in, too." Eddie says things started to slow down in the Chicago Blues scene in the early '70s. The fun had run its course. "Clubs started closing," he said. "At one time I'll bet there was at least 25 Blues clubs playing live music every night all over town. Now you're lucky if you can find five good ones. We were playing seven nights a week if we wanted to. Things were hoppin' all the time. That's all gone. "It's a sad day in a city with over three million people living in it and you have to hunt to find five good Blues clubs when Chicago is the Blues capital of the world," Eddie laments. "I remember when there would be 10-15 clubs open on the West Side, 10 on the North Side, some on the East Side, some on the South Side. During the year we have at least as many tourists visit Chicago as the number of people that live here. And you have to hunt for a good Blues club. Something's wrong with that." Buddy Guy's Legends Club is mentioned as one of the leading Blues venues in the country and Eddie agrees. "Besides being a great player, Buddy is a good businessman and I love him for that," Eddie says. "There are just not enough Buddy Guys to go around. One of the big problems is the cost of running a nice place. The overhead is killing the owners. It may look like they're raking it in but it costs a lot to keep a place open with the taxes, rent, utilities and all of that stuff." The Blues is at one of its periodic stand stills, Eddie says. "There's not too many young guys out there playing Blues," Eddie says. "The door's wide open and not too many guys are trying to capitalize. The ball's in their court and they need to get busy. There are a few good ones playing but there needs to be more. I don't have any competition anymore because everybody's died." One thing has remained constant throughout Eddie's long and colorful career-Â- his loyalty to Howlin' Wolf. Before he passed Wolf made Eddie promise to carry on and never abandon his love for the Blues. After Wolf died Eddie has continued with his band Eddie Shaw & The Wolfgang. The band has been playing steadily for the almost 40 years since Wolf's passing. Eddie recently released an album entitled Eddie Shaw & The 757 Allstars "Sill Riding High," which has received positive reviews. "All of the musicians are from southeast Virginia in the 757 area code," Eddie explains. "All of the musicians are outstanding and I had a great time recording with them." Eddie owes his continued longevity to a clean lifestyle and a steadfast dedication to the music. "I've always tried to have a good relationship with the people I work with," Eddie says. "I don't drink or smoke and I'm not a drug guy. I just always try to stay in the right frame of mind. "I'm working way too much for a man of 75 years," Eddie laughs. "But, the bill collector don't care how old you are. You can be 15 or 99, he wants his money. But that's the Blues, right? It wouldn't be the Blues if everything was perfect. They'd call it something else." | 
