The Complete Columbia Albums Collection combines all five of jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw's albums on Columbia, including 1977's Rosewood, 1978's Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard, 1978's Woody III, 1980's For Sure!, and 1981's United. Also featured is a sixth disc of never before released bonus tracks from the live Stepping Stones sessions. These albums represent the height of Shaw's creative output of the late '70s and early '80s, during a time in which he combined modal jazz, post-bop, fusion, and avant-garde improvisation into his own uniquely propulsive, melodic, and harmonically advanced style. Of all the albums, Rosewood is perhaps best known, as it earned Shaw a Grammy nomination and was voted Best Jazz Album of 1978 in the Down Beat Readers Poll. Not only do these albums showcase the technically proficient and improvisationally gifted Shaw in his prime, they also feature such sidemen as saxophonists Joe Henderson, Carter Jefferson, and Gary Bartz; pianists Onaje Allan Gumbs, Larry Willis, and Mulgrew Miller; drummers Victor Lewis and Tony Reedus; bassists Clint Houston and Buster Williams; and -- as on United -- the then young trombonist Steve Turre. These are not only must-hear albums for Shaw fans, but also required listening for any fans of forward-thinking post-bop.