Once the boy-wonder of the alto saxophonists who followed in the heady froth-infused wake of bop and swing that crowned the idea if the mighty Charles Mingus symphonic music Jaleel Shaw is a few decades into letting his own alto saxophone do the talking into the continuum of music. He has much to say and does so by taking us into his priceless cinematic worldview.
His magnum opus Painter of the Invisible is definitely a testament to every work that has gone ahead of its time. Mr Shaw is not a kind of musical ruler who grabs the fog-horn and then turns it on you. Recent work has served to empty all his questions examined in community like a communal shared resource, questions shared in public rather than asked from behind a veil of secrecy. But they are all rolled up and thrown behind the metaphorical world of ‘the Painter,’ ironically who is no longer invisible.
Ralph Elision’s gigantic character has been awoken because his time – not an answer to the many, more intellectual ones – but the more urgent, existential ones. This is a dark recording, made in and for a dark – and darkening – and darkening world.
The expressions of darkness are like the French poet Charles Baudelaire’s blossoming for the poet’s Fleure du Mal – music featuring beautifully crafted arrangements of beguiling variety and sensuousness in every lovingly caressed phrase of Painter of the Invisible – both Mr Elison’s original character who are magically brought Mr Shaw’s newly minted invisible ones.
The long-limbed noble and seductively glissandi of Gina’s Ascent [which also feature Lawrence Field’s magnificent inventions, a timely reminder that reminder us that in all of the harmonic intricacies that unfurl, its clear that there’s not a semiquaver that hasn’t been fastidiously considered.
The stentorian leaps and bounds of Beantown none of severe love of ripping from top to bottom of the mystical curtain of the temple is not lost on us. Every piece is played with respect to Mr Shaw’s languid alto – his sumptuous sound brilliant caught in Aaron Neveai and Michael Perez-Cisneros’s recording.
There’s often a quiet menace that balances the elements of fear and calm, of hate and love. There is an unhurried quality in Mr Shaw’s tradecraft and so while it may lack brimstone and fire of youth these may be balanced by the well-honed values of experience. This is truly a cosmic magnum opus, a swinger in every way; every indication that Mr Shaw’s superstardom is only now being revealed.
Deo Gratis…
Music – 1. Good Morning; 2. Contemplation; 3. Beantown; 4. Distant Images; 5. Baldwin’ Blues; 6. Gina’s Accent [intro]; 7. Gina’s Accent; 8. Tamir; 9. Meghan; 10. The Invisible Man; 11. Until We Meet Again.
Musicians – Jaleel Shaw: alto saxophone [1-8, 10, 11], soprano saxophone [9]; Lawrence Fields: piano [1-5,7-10], Fender Rhodes [11]; Ben Street: contrabass ; Joe Dyson: drums [1-5, 7-10]; Lage Lund: guitar [4, 10]; Sasha Berliner: vibraphone [6, 7]
Released: 2025
Label:Â Changu Records CR 004
[jaleelshaw.com]
Production Time: 1:01:13