Jaleel Shaw (alto/soprano sax); Lawrence Fields (piano); Ben Street (bass); Lage Lund (guitar); Joe Dyson (drums); Sasha Berliner (vibes)Among the notes the Chicago Tribune is quoted as saying: “Alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw is especially promising, the real thing... a tough personal player.... not a bebop revivalist.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer throws in its two bits with: “Where jazz is going, folks like alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw will be steering the way.”
And Bebop Spoken Here couldn't agree more!
In his first album for 13 years, Shaw celebrates individuals - both personally loved ones and figures admired from afar – figures whose extraordinary lives receive Jaleel's deserved gratitude and recognition.
These iconic figures include his late grandmother and his late cousin Clare. James Baldwin; Ralph Ellison; NYC arts patron the late Meghan Stabile; Casey Benjamin; Roy Haynes and, perhaps most poignantly, Tamir Rice.
Tamir (For Tamir Rice) is the longest track running for just short of eleven minutes. Jaleel's feelings are expressed in a musically aggressive take on the killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice by Cleveland Police in 2014. It triggered off the BLM movement and deeply affected Jaleel. "It felt like they'd killed my baby brother" and he vowed that from then on his music would be dedicated to social justice in the black community.
This track does just that. The sombre funereal sadness is eerily displayed by solo drums then joined by alto. It's slow and dignified. Minor key, think Mingus. Bass is reflective, soloing without support before alto and drums return. The tension mounts, building towards the explosion and the anger and the anguish that is unleashed. The alto screams out with pain, expressing the jagged heartbreak of the moment. Piano takes over, he's feeling it too. The drums are still pounding sending a message to the world. It's the nightmare you get after reading a horror story at midnight except this is a real life and death horror story. Eventually the music fades but the emotions stay in my heart.
Every Caucasian policeman in Cleveland should have this track played to them before they go on duty.
I've highlighted Tamir because of the impact it has had on me however, the other tracks are also appealing albeit in a less inflammatory way.
Although Shaw is the most heavily featured soloist, Fields, Street, Lund, Dyson and Berliner also have their moments to shine and shine they do, release date is this Friday July 11 and well worth checking out via the Bandcamp link below. Lance
Good Morning; Contemplation; Beantown; Distant Images; Baldwin's Blues; Gina's Ascent - intro: Gina's Ascent; Tamir; Meghan (Meghan Stabile); Invisible Man; Until We Meet Again
1 comment :
The album sounds great - must buy a copy. Jaleel Shaw was a revelation at the 2015 Gateshead International Jazz Festival (The Cookers).
Post a Comment