Jaleel Shaw

[sal]

Has anyone heard Jaleel Shaw before, either live or on record? I heard that the kid can play. I think he has a CD on Fresh Sound New Talent. Any comments?

[Kalo]

I saw Shaw last year, leading the Mingus Big Band. I was impressed. The following is the review I wrote for the (major metropolitan) Boston rag I write for on occasion (I've highlighted the Shaw references):

MUSIC REVIEW

Big Band puts on a fiery tribute to Mingus

By Kevin Lowenthal, Globe Correspondent | September 5, 2005

Mingus Big Band, first set

At: the Regattabar, Friday night

CAMBRIDGE -- Charles Mingus was a jazz giant, both a master bassist and the widest-ranging composer and bandleader this side of Duke Ellington. His music encompasses everything from Jelly Roll Morton to the avant-garde, and incorporates blues, gospel, Latin, and classical. Yet Mingus always sounds like Mingus: impetuous, angry, sensitive, cerebral, anguished, and ecstatic by turns.

The New York-based, 14-piece Mingus Big Band upholds his legacy. Friday night at the Regattabar, they presented what will likely stand as the year's most exhilarating jazz show. So tight they were loose, they embodied every note of Mingus's music with head, heart, and guts.

Sue Mingus, the composer's widow, briefly introduced the first set. Then the band, conducted by alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, ripped into Mingus's rapid-fire blues ''Boogie Stop Shuffle." Trombonist Frank Lacy, in a rounded, raspy, theatrical voice, sang the theme song from the 1960s TV show ''Spider-Man," which fit perfectly. Lauren Sevian soloed fluidly on the unwieldy baritone saxophone, building to a honking finish as the trumpets shrieked.

The temperature cooled, and trumpeter Kenny Rampton played a melodic, menthol-toned solo, accented with sly growls. Lacy's trombone solo started sparely, evolving to enjoyably rude eruptions. Donald Edwards contributed a boiling, bluesy drum solo, then Lacy reprised the lyrics as the band built up and up, ending in a barely contained frenzy.

For ''Invisible Lady," Lacy sang Elvis Costello's lyrics over a sumptuous carpet of saxophones. Conrad Herwig's creamy trombone solo wasted nary a note. Shaw's riveting alto solo began slow, breathy, and mysterious, then built slowly as his tone became edgy and his lines gained heat. At the tune's climax, Herwig returned for an impressive cadenza.

''Children's Hour of Dream" represented Mingus's classical mode. The band hugged every twist and turn of the music as it morphed from Ellingtonia to Stravinsky-like passages and back. The agitated ''Tensions" showcased trumpeter Eddie Henderson's scorching hard bop trumpet. Abraham Burton's craggy tenor saxophone solo evoked Coltrane. Bassist Boris Kaslov, the number's arranger, began his solo with leaping arpeggios and rapid strumming yet never devolved into mere technique, demonstrating his right to walk in Mingus's shoes.

''Song With Orange," the set's closer, began with Kenny Drew Jr.'s floridly romantic piano. The tune shifted beats and tempos several times before settling on a sanctified feel, with the audience and band clapping along. Wayne Escoffery's gospelly tenor sax bobbed and weaved. Then Earl McIntyre growled beguilingly on plunger-muted bass trombone.

The tune ended with swaggering, full-band shouts that ultimately exploded into the most cathartic cacophony of the evening.

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.

[sal]

Thanks Kalo!

[relyles]

I have heard him in a couple of different contexts and liked what I heard. I have heard favorable things about the Fresh Sounds NT release.

[ValerieB]

Jaleel is a wonderful player. I'm happy to say that I've seen and heard him in various settings in the past few years, but mostly in the Mingus Big Band. We'll be hearing lots more about him in the years to come!

[stevebop]

Jaleel was in Boston a couple of weeks ago as a part of the Roy Haynes Quartet at Scullers Jazz Club. He shone throughout the night particularly on a ballad feature, Embraceable You.

His new CD "Perspective" on Fresh Sounds New Talent, is well worth investigating. It also features Mark Turner and Robert Glasper

[Kalo]

Jaleel was in Boston a couple of weeks ago as a part of the Roy Haynes Quartet at Scullers Jazz Club. He shone throughout the night particularly on a ballad feature, Embraceable You.

His new CD "Perspective" on Fresh Sounds New Talent, is well worth investigating. It also features Mark Turner and Robert Glasper

I'm sorry I missed that. He was definitely impressive with the Mingus Big Band.

[king ubu]

Shaw has replaced Marcus Strickland in Roy Haynes' "Fountain of Youth". I heard him live with the Mingus Big Band and on a radio broadcast with Haynes and both times he was great! Of course the quartet setting with Haynes left much more space for him to blow, and he made good use of it, for sure!