JALEEL SHAW

PAINTER OF THE INVISIBLE

Changu Records

Jaleel Shaw, alto & soprano saxophone/composer; Lawrence Fields, piano/Fender Rhodes; Ben Street, bass; Joe Dyson, drums; Lage Lund, guitar; Sasha Berliner, vibraphone.

Thirteen years ago, was the last time we heard an album from Jaleel Shaw.  He has been busy performing on his reed instruments, composing, living his life and educating students. The current climate of America, the joy, grief, beauty, social justice and injustice, all mixed up with ancestral wisdom encouraged Jaleel back into the studio.

Shaw opens with a brief one-minute tune called “Good Morning” that features Jaleel playing his alto saxophone, warm like the sunrise.  Next, on a tune he penned called “Contemplation” drummer Joe Dyson steps forward to give a masterful drum solo midway through the arrangement. Ben Street plays a double time lick on his bass instrument beneath Shaw’s melodic saxophone introduction.

Each of these songs that Jaleel Shaw has composed reflect deeply personal events in his life. He has compositions dedicated to his late grandmother and cousin. Also, there is a song written for arts patron Meghan Stabile, another for literary giant James Baldwin, and one composition for the murdered twelve-year-old child, Tamir Rice, shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio while carrying a toy gun in the park. It opens with Joe Dyson’s drums rolling across my listening room offering a rich, percussive conversation.  The saxophone enters, reminding me of a dirge played in a New Orleans funeral procession. Ben Street is given quiet time to improvise on his double bass, fingers sliding across the strings smooth as oil. Shaw gives us a flurry of saxophone notes that improvise over the theme in a Coltrane-kind of way.

A song called “Beantown” is a historical nickname for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It becomes a straight-ahead tune that features an exciting solo by Lawrence Fields on piano. There is a nod to Shaw’s time and formative years at the celebrated Berklee School of Music.

Another favorite of mine was “Baldwin’s Blues” celebrating the great journalist and author, James Baldwin. I enjoyed “Gina’s Ascent,” a very lovely ballad with a catchy bass line that dances beneath the melody.  The vibraphone of Sasha Berliner is exquisite, lifting the arrangement in wonderful ways.

This is music played from Jaleel Shaw’s heart and soul. His project represents a commitment to ensure that important people and events are never forgotten. Shaw’s music and song titles will keep them alive forever.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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