Jaleel Shaw, alto saxophonist grew up in Philadelphia, PA, where he was sur… Read Full Bio ↴Jaleel Shaw, alto saxophonist grew up in Philadelphia, PA, where he was surrounded by a enormous family of jazz musicians that Philadelphia has to offer. He studied with many of the strong jazz educators there, including Rayburn Wright, Robert Landham, and Lovette Hines – who is largely responsible for having nurtured the talents of Bassist Christian McBride, Organist Joey Defrancesco, Drummers Johnathan Blake & Ari Hoenig, Vocalist Bilal, Trumpeter Daud El-Bakara, and keyboardist Kamal of The Roots through his youth ensemble that is still going strong today.
As a teen, Jaleel performed, jammed and sat in at the many clubs in Philadephia, honing his chops and developing strong relationships with the musicians on the Philadelphia jazz scene had as well as with the musicians that came to Philadelphia from New York City to perform.
Upon graduating from high school, Jaleel received a full tuition scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. He attended Berklee for four years and earned a dual degree in Music Education and Performance in 2000. While attending Berklee, studied privately with Saxophonist Andy Mcghee, Billy Pierce, George Garzone, and Shanon LeClaire. During his time in Boston Jaleel received the Billboard Endowed Scholarship for Outstanding Academic and Musical achievement (1998), two Woodwind Dept. Chair Awards, The Outstanding Student Teacher Award, and The Boston Jazz Society Award (1999).
After graduating from Berklee, Jaleel received a scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he received his Masters in Jazz Performance in May of 2002. While at the Manhattan School of Music, Jaleel was recruited by both the Mingus Big Band and Count Basie Orchestra. Jaleel appears on two Grammy Nominated CD’s by the Mingus Big Band – “Tonight at Noon” and “I Am Three”.
A year after finishing his graduate studies, Jaleel joined Temple University as a part-time private lesson and ensemble instructor. From Temple, Jaleel joined the New School University in NY, teaching private saxophone lessons. Today, Jaleel still takes part in many jazz education programs in the US and abroad.
After being in New York for 5 yrs, Jaleel’s debut CD “Perspective” was released in June 2005 to raved reviews from Jazzwise Magazine and The New York Times. It was named one of the top 5 debut CD’s of 2005 by All About Jazz Magazine, Jazzwise Magazine, and the Jazz Journalist Association.
In the Fall of 2005, Jaleel joined world renown drummer Roy Haynes’ Quartet and recorded the Grammy Nominated CD “Whereas” with the group for the Dreyfus Label.
In the beginning of 2008, Jaleel launched his on record label - Changu Records, on which he released his second CD - Optimism. In the Summer of 2008, Jaleel was nominated as one of the Up and Coming Jazz Musicians of the year by the Jazz Journalist Association. Today Jaleel continues to perform primarily in 3 groups – The Roy Haynes Quartet, the Mingus Big Band, and his own Quartet and Quintet.