Gene Shaw Quintet - Breakthrough

2018 Japanese CD reissue.

Originally released in 1964, Break Through is a superb, if obscure, hard bop solo debut by trumpeter Gene Shaw. Born in Detroit, Shaw is best known as a member of bassist Charles Mingus' ensemble in the late '50s. Recorded in Chicago, Break Through finds Shaw joined by tenor saxophonist Sherman Morrison, pianist James Taylor, bassist Sidney Robinson, and drummer Bernard Martin.

Having studied at the Detroit Institute of Music, Shaw was obviously well schooled in the American popular songbook as well as post-bop theory, and such tunes as the Latin-tinged original "Marj," the sweetly laid-back midtempo take on Leonard Bernstein's "Tonight," and the burning and bluesy original concept piece "'The Thing" reveal a knack for thoughtful melodic conception and harmonic development.

Fittingly, trumpet player Shaw's sound falls somewhere between the soul-inflected approach of Lee Morgan and the more lyrical, minimal style of Kenny Dorham -- the latter especially in his penchant for softly fluid lines whose prettiness belies a deft boppish complexity. All of which is to say that, while this stuff swings and grooves, Break Through is more of a searching, urbane, and reflective album than some of the more dance and groove-oriented sides many of Shaw's contemporaries were releasing at the time.

Matt Collar ~ AllMusicGuide