Elijah Shaw

Lige Shaw was a Saint Louis musician, best known for his activities with the Singleton Palmer Dixieland band. He was also quite active in the local Black Musicians' Union and instrumental in getting it merged with the white union in Saint Louis.

Lige was born in Jackson, Tennessee, September 9, 1900; and died in Oklahoma City in December 1981. He was playing professionally by the age of ten. I have found three interviews (1) (2) (3) that help form a picture of his life as a musician. Other online resources include (4) (5) (6).

The first eight photos below are from posters in Lige's scrapbook that he asked me to copy. The rest were made one evening late in 1975 when he came to tune our piano. My own favorite is #16. We made a big pot of spaghetti, and Lige enjoyed himself thoroughly.

Click on any thumbnail image to see a larger version. These files have been compressed to reduce download time -- if you want a quality print, email dan@landiss.info for a larger file. Extra: click here to download a slide show to your own computer.

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