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Optimism Shaw's second album as a leader is a worthy follow up to his debut album Perspective, which was released in 2004. On optimism you get most of the same players returning that played on his 1st album. The young & very talented guitarist Lage Lund, winner of the monk competition for guitar in 2005 & Julliard educated is on the front line with Shaw mostly suppling a melodic voice in the Peter Bernstein/Jim Hall school of beautiful clean tone. On piano & keyboards is none other than Robert Glasper a key player in the jazz/hip hop hybrid sound of the 21st century, Glasper has some great solo moments here on piano. On acoustic bass is Joe Martin a NYC mainstay who's played with Kurt Rosenwinkle on his newest live album
The Remedy - Live At The Village Vanguard
, toured with Jonathan Kreisberg & also a bandleader with two excellent albums to his credit his newest
Not by Chance
. Last but not least is the killer drummer Jonathan Blake who's played with everyone on the NYC scene & is Shaw's regular drummer. This album definitely falls into the new modern jazz category with overtones of hip hop & soul combined with a post bop melodic & harmonic sense. The opening tune The Flipside is my personal favorite, a hard swinging tune with a knotty arrangement & a great melody. Shaw does a nice grooving version of the well traveled standard Love for Sale with guest trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. On the song Flight you get slamming back beats & chilled out fender rhodes. All in all I would say this is a most enjoyable album with something for everyone, the band is a top self ensemble with some of New York's finest young players. If you enjoy this album you should also check out Shaw's debut album Perspective.
I play jazz cds in my office on a 5 disc spinner. This one, new to me in 2013, got in with the MIles Davis Bootleg series 2, and Miles has been my favorite for over 50 years. Jaleel Shaw beat him on this play list -- indeed, when Miles goes back into his package and storage, Optimism will remain in the spinner with the next batch of CDs, and, who knows, maybe the next....For my nickel, there's not a wrong note here and LOTS of right ones.
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