Aug 25, 2013
The loss of Cedar Walton at the age of 79 earlier this week makes celebrating Wayne Shorter’s 80th birthday today all the more important. We are losing more of the pioneers who made jazz what it is today every day, so we should savor the music and presence of someone of Wayne’s stature while we can.
Thankfully Shorter is alive and well and working, playing with a top quartet and writing new material. His career can be seen one of the many the arcs that jazz took in the 1960’s – from hard bop to a more impressionistic and modal sound to advanced key changes and rhythms to electric fusion and then a wonderful mix of them all. Whether he was leading the band or just stepping in as a sideman, his saxophone and his presence made things special.
And so Podcast 372, “Wayne Shorter at 80”, is an hour plus retrospective of the saxophone legend’s wildly varied work, with tunes he composed wherever possible. The music includes his work in classic bands, sideman contributions, one-off projects and solo and duo recordings, including:
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers – Title Track from Free-For-All.
Miles Davis Quintet – “Orbits” from Miles Smiles.
Wayne Shorter – Title Track from Adam’s Apple.
Weather Report – “Unknown Soldier” from I Sing the Body Electric.
Joni Mitchell – “Jericho” from Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter.
Shorter, Petrucciani, Clarke, White, Goldstein & Levin – “Nefertiti” from The Manhattan Project - Live at Chelsea Studios NYC 1989-12-16
Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter – “Aung San Suu Kyi” from 1 +. 1
Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Brian Blade – “Footprints” from an unreleased recording HSHB04 - The Forensic Music Tour, Vol. 3 - London, UK, Barbican
Wayne Shorter Quartet – “Zero Gravity” from Without a Net.