Search - Gene Shaw :: Breakthrough

Rare genius from trumpeter Gene Shaw a player who worked famously with Charles Mingus (under the name Clarence Shaw) on the albums Tijuana Moods and East Coasting then disappeared from the scene after having a famous fight with his leader. After a few years of silence, Shaw resurfaced in Chicago with this brilliant debut as a leader for Argo Records -- a wonderful album that s filled with as much soul and emotion as his sessions with Mingus. The group has a slightly modern take on hardbop often straight and hard-swinging, but with plenty of room for the players to really stretch out with a great deal of expression. Shaw s trumpet tone is amazing right up there with Lee Morgan or Kenny Dorham at their Blue Note best and the rest of the group is wonderful too -- especially tenorist Sherman Morrison, whose work here is a real discovery. Chicago dates like this never got their due back in the day and this CD reissue finally brings Shaw s post-Mingus work into focus!