Jaleel Shaw is a ‘Painter of the Invisible’
Alto Saxophonist-Composer-Bandleader-Educator Jaleel Shaw, 47, a resident of Fort Lee in Bergen County, has made one of the jazz albums of the year, a record so brimming with detours, side-trips, extemporaneous bursts and ensemble tightness-to-the-max, that one can groove high without even realizing the importance of its inspirations.
In 1953, Ralph Ellison’s great American novel Invisible Man shattered all preconceptions of what it’s like to be Black in America. Twenty years into his career, sax man Shaw has now stripped himself naked to the point of vulnerability with Painter Of The Invisible (Changu Records) where he expresses love for ancestral wisdom and a desperate need for social justice. Pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Ben Street, drummer Joe Dyson and vibraphonist Sasha Berliner stick to him like glue, like a second-skin that ultimately sheds to fly and solo on their own.
“Baldwin’s Blues” is for novelist James Baldwin. “Tamir” is for 12-year old martyr Tamir Rice, inexplicably killed by a Cleveland cop. “I don’t want people and events to be forgotten,” he says. “With everything going on now, I feel like that’s where things are being pushed—history being erased, tragedies going unmentioned…”
The spirit of legendary drummer Ray Haynes hovers over these proceedings. Haynes died last year at 99 years old. Shaw toiled in his band for 14 years. He tells Shaun Brady in this month’s downbeat, “I always felt Roy was going to live forever. So many opportunities came from playing with Roy. Through him I got to work with Chick Corea, Ron Carter, Pat Metheny and so many others. Being on the bandstand with Roy, Christian McBride and Roy Hargrove, you understand how the generations come together under this master who transcends time.”