Wayne Shorter

Posted by: John C on 11 November 2001

Jazz content of this board sadly running on low at the moment.

I saw him live last night. The unbelievably talented young band was Brian Blade drums, John Patittucci- bass, Danilo Perez- piano.Utterly fantastic.Brian Blade resembles a young Billy Higgins with that playing on the cusp of ecstasy
feel, Patittuci is a wonder on bass and Perez simply phenomenal with invention and brilliance to burn. Wayne Shorter is a hero of mine and I was awestruck. He was typically enigmatic starting off each tunes with some gestures and cues to the others who then ran with it, with the occasional nod of delight or appreciation from the great man, until Shorter would come in again to round things off. He sounded great especially on soprano. He is like some zen master who has a musical universe stored inside his head and his frequently minimal statements are little gifts to us mere mortals. Stunning.

As far as his records go, the man has an array of so many brilliant compositions, plays so well on so many great recordings its hard to even list them. From his seminal work with Miles or his time with Art Blakey to his own utterly essential Bluenote recordings. I don't even have any Weather Report albums. I love him.
Sorry for gushing.
John.

Posted on: 11 November 2001 by Jez Quigley
Not much of anything in the music bit of the forum, everyone spending their pennies on the autumn/winter upgrade season I guess.
Posted on: 12 November 2001 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by John C:
I don't even have any Weather Report albums. I love [Wayne Shorter].
John.

Well, then I think you'd better get some ... perhaps start with their first, eponymously titled, album.

How do I love Wayne? Let me count the ways ...

Posted on: 13 November 2001 by von zipper
I would have liked seen him.Theres not many of the Jazz greats left now and you never know when we're going to loose another one.
I was lucky to catch Bud Shank at our local basement bar a little while back and it was truly an enlightening experience to hear a 73 year old sounding fresher than ever.
Posted on: 13 November 2001 by John C
Wayne now appears to operate in a jazz idiom all of his own. Just looking at what the man has achieved is extraordinary. The concert will be broadcast live on BBC radio 3 on Friday week I think and was fimed for BBC Knowledge, which is showing large portions of the London Jazz festival.

Fred (and anyone else interested in this music) can I recommend to you Bojan Zulfikarpasic, a brilliant Yugoslavian (Serbian I think) pianist who is based in Paris and plays with the great Henri Texier and Louis Scavis. His recent disc, Solobsession on Label Bleu is a huge critical success here and I must say one of the best releases of recent years. He supported Shorter and played the most extraordinary set of solo piano. He is probably the most exciting jazz pianist i n Europe and incorporates everything from Debussy (I'm told) to Macedonian folk songs into his work. I can't recommend him highly enough.

John.

In passing I would point that the acoustics in the Royal Festival Hall and the quality of the piano was astou nding. nÑ

Posted on: 13 November 2001 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by Patrick Dixon:

Quote [from Fred Simon]: "... perhaps start with their first, eponymously titled, album.

"Or 'Heavy Weather', which has "Birdland" as first track.

Well, I figured for someone coming from Wayne's earlier stuff who doesn't have any Weather Report, Heavy Weather, as monumental as it is, might not be the best place to begin. I still think starting with their debut, Weather Report, and then maybe their second, the masterpiece I Sing the Body Electric, would be a good idea in this case.

[This message was edited by fred simon on TUESDAY 13 November 2001 at 20:40.]

[This message was edited by fred simon on TUESDAY 13 November 2001 at 20:44.]