The Moontrane is an instrumental jazz composition by Woody Shaw, with no lyrics. The earliest recording known is by Larry Young, made in November 1965 and issued on the album Unity (Blue Note, 1966). Shaw later recorded it himself in December 1974 for his 1975 album The Moontrane on Muse Records, produced by Michael Cuscuna. The piece opens that album's track listing, at 6:54, and the album, Shaw's third as leader, was reissued by Mosaic in 2013. The personnel on the Muse session include Steve Turre, Azar Lawrence, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Cecil McBee, Buster Williams and Victor Lewis. The tune has a hard bop and post bop character. Later versions include those by Dexter Gordon (1977), Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw (1988), and Arturo Sandoval (1996).
