Even for someone so gifted, Woody Shaw could easily have slipped off the radar were it not for the sheer dedication of Mosaic’s Grand Fromage Michel Cuscuna who has curated this, the second multi-disc box dedicated to the artist to appear in the label’s catalogue. But then, what was there not to like about this master musician?

Nobody appears to have had a bad word to say about Shaw. Quite the contrary. Not known for freely handing out verbal endorsements, Miles Davis was full of praise for a fellow musician he greatly respected as a possible rival. “Now there’s a great trumpet player. He can play different from all of them.”

So be it as a straightahead hard bop Jazz Messenger, a member of Horace Silver’s band, a Dexter Gordon sidekick, exploring the future with the likes of Andrew Hill, Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea and Larry Young or in his role as a ubiquitous Blue Note label mainstay (both as leader and sideman), Shaw was always highly inventive, sturdy of lip, pitch perfect and really in a class of his own. Though he emerged at a time when Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard were the headline grabbers, there were those who recognised that Shaw was an original and adventurous voice be it performing his own works (‘The Moontrane’, ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’), as an interpretive storyteller (‘What’s New’) or as a humourist (‘The Woody Woodpecker Song’). And yet, even now, it remains somewhat of an unsolved mystery as to why he wasn’t widely lionised outside of a coterie of fellow players and chroniclers who always realised that they were in the presence of greatness.

Record companies are not known for being charitable organisations so most of his albums must have at least broken even; otherwise he wouldn’t have been given the privilege of making so many. In this instance, Shaw’s tenure with Muse produced nine critically acclaimed albums, all of which are presented here on seven CDs. They range from a rare quartet session through to the impressive four horn Concert Ensemble. Sadly, nowadays when Shaw’s name is mentioned the somewhat patchy details surrounding his unexpected death in 1989 at the age of just 44 on the Brooklyn subway seem to be of more interest than his considerable musical ability. I’ll hazard a guess that you’ve probably got more Miles Davis box sets than you’ll ever get around to playing more than a couple of times, so when contemplating your next big spend, give this celebration of much of Woody Shaw’s finest work serious consideration.