Jaleel Shaw

Alto Saxophonist Jaleel Shaw was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jaleel was constantly surrounded by music and at the age of 9, he picked up the alto saxophone. After a year of studying the saxophone, Shaw joined a youth jazz band directed by Mr. Lovette Hines. Mr. Hines’ youth band has had a history ot producing great jazz talents like Christian McBride and Joey Defrancesco. Aside from performing in this band for almost 6 years, Jaleel immersed himself in the Philadelphia jazz scene, studying with and performing with some of the great musicians that Philadelphia has produced.


By the time Jaleel was 18, he’d received a full scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston Mass. Jaleel attended Berklee and received a dual degree in Music education and performance. During this time he also spent time cutting his teeth with many of the great young musicians in Boston around town especially at a world renown jazz club “Wallys”.


Before moving to NY, Jaleel was rewarded a scholarship to attend the graduate program at the Manhattan School of Music. Two months after locating to NY, Jaleel was recruited to join the Mingus Big Band, which he still continues to peform with. The following year he was recruited by the Count Basie Orchestra, who he spent half a year performing with


Upon graduating with a Masters in Performance from Manhattan School of Music, Jaleel received a call from Temple University requesting that he join the faculty as a saxophone instructor. Jaleel taught at Temple for three years teaching jazz saxophone, improvisation, and ensembles.


In 2004, Jaleel recorded his debut cd "Perspective" which was met with rave reviews and earned a mention in both All About Jazz and Jazzwise Magazine as one of the top cd’s of 2005.


Jaleel continued to play in NY with his own group, the Mingus Big Band, and occasionally the Village Vanguard Orchestra. He also began working with many of the great jazz musicians on the NY scene and in the fall of 2005, he joined the Roy Haynes Quartet, which he performs with regularly.



In 2008, Jaleel started his own label - Changu Records, on which he released his sophomore CD - "Optimism".