Wayne Shorter Quartet

Wayne Shorter (saxophones), Danilo Perez (piano), Brian Blade (drums), John Pattitucci (bass)

He may be 76, saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter never fails to surprise. In 2001, following a lengthy period of little or no news from his side, he put together an acoustic quartet once again. He was back in his prime and since then he’s been leading one of the best bands in the jazz scene.

Wayne Shorter was the celebrated saxophonist of the fantastic second great Miles Davis quintet, in which he not only drove the music along with his smooth undulating solos but also brought in his own poetically structured compositions. Wayne Shorter also recorded a number of brilliant albums on the Blue Note label, and it’s on this same label that his best known and trend-setting albums of the sixties are to be found, classics in their own right today: to name a few, Speak No Evil (1964), Juju (1964) and Adam’s Apple (1966).

Wayne Shorter was rather a late developer. After his music studies he played for a while with Horace Silver and then had to go into the army. In 1958 he joined Maynard Ferguson’s Big Band where he met Joe Zawinul. It was playing with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers that he really started to prove his real worth: he was made musical director. It was only in 1959 when playing with pianist Wynton Kelly that he made his first studio recording. In September 1964 Shorter joined the Miles Davis group where he would stay until 1970. Although he initially only played tenor saxophone, from 1968 he also added soprano saxophone and started to experiment with electric instruments.

In the autumn of 1970 he formed the pioneering fusion band Weather Report with Joe Zawinul. The band recorded some classic tracks such as Sweetnighter, Mysterious Traveller and Black Market. Shorter was also much in demand as a sideman: you can hear him on albums by Milton Nascimento, Carlos Santana and the much revered singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell. Initially his ideas appeared to strongly resemble those of John Coltrane, but gradually he developed his own personal style. He started to play subdued bop runs and undulations like Coltrane, punctuated by periods of silence. He often only used fragments of the theme, which functioned as a sort of guide through his own unusual compositions. His style also became more abstract.

This rather short man still looks incredibly youthful, and a large, floppy shirt hides a small paunch. Like many of the older musicians, he likes to surround himself with younger but no less talented musicians and his quartet fuses together like no other. In 2005 he released the album, Beyond the sound barrier, with recordings of concerts played on three continents. Listening to it, you can hear how he creates tension as well as questions in the listener. Sometimes the band seems about to explode and we find ourselves in the middle of a creative firework display, and then a little later everything seems to have calmed down somewhat. Live, the band has to be seen to be believed, especially the breathtaking interaction between the players. The way of playing by association is demanding but the result takes your breath away. Drummer Brian Blade stands for drama and intensity, the beauty and power of his playing is simply miraculous. Pianist Danilo Perez is a one-man orchestra and bassist John Patitucci glues everything together and often creates the spark that makes Blade explode. Shorter certainly doesn’t fall back on his former successes; instead he opts to be adventurous, preferring the unpredictable.