For me Wayne Shorter is THE composer of the last half century, much like Duke and Monk were for previous eras. Most strikingly there is the constant evolution from the beginning compositions for Art Blakey in the early ‘60s (“Lester Left Town”) through the Blue Note recordings (“Speak No Evil” etc.); the notable “Native Dancer” (“Black Beauty”) and Weather Report (“Elegant People”); and the past 20 years with his solo work (“Three Marias”) of the ‘80s and ‘90s through the present group of the past decade. There is no other composer in the history of jazz with such a progression of stylistic change over that length of time.
As an improviser Wayne’s playing has always reflected the modus operandi that is part and parcel of any great composer’s methodology: theme and variation, timing of events, slow development, etc. These are constants in his playing even as his style has evolved over the decades much like the writing. Wayne is the composer as player while the majority of jazz musicians compose as an extension of their playing The underlying and consistent premise is the constant manipulation of the classic artistic mantra evident across all artistic endeavors… tension and release. To balance surprise and expectation in an evenhanded manner is in the final analysis what makes something work artistically speaking, especially in an improvising genre like jazz where there is no pre-planned agenda. In Wayne’s case this tension/release scenario is clearly and consistently demonstrated across the five elements of music: melody, rhythm, harmony, color and form.
Melodically, Wayne’s choice of notes veer between dense, fast chromatic runs that sound like a blur to clearly lyrical statements, while rhythmically Shorter is constantly on the cusp of inside and over the prevailing pulse rarely if ever playing the lingua franca of dotted/triplet based eighth notes one is used to hearing in jazz. In the harmonic realm everything is there….pedal points, vamps/ostinatos (amazing how much he can get from a one or two bar repetitive pattern) with occasional use of dense harmonies offset by more consonant sonorities. (When Wayne was with Miles Davis, this was largely the opposite case.) Color refers to the instrumental sound which in Wayne’s case includes an unusually diverse array of articulations from marcato/staccato to glissando; a searing sound in the upper register of the soprano sax contrasted with a more transparent and lighter tone in the lower; also extensive use of a wide dynamic range. Form in this discussion means the overall shape and emotional impact of his solos which never follow a predetermined or repetitive pattern. He does often begin haltingly (subtone register of the horn with little spurts of ideas behind the piano) leading to a climax that is crystal clear and not formulaic. Wayne is the ultimate programmatic artist, but subtly accomplished.
This present recording clearly demonstrates the points described above. Credit must be given to the rhythm section that has been together for over a decade. Others of Wayne’s stature present new “projects” year to year but Wayne has stayed the course and apparently agrees with me that a steady group is truly the way to find “improvisational bliss.” The dialogue between John, Brian and Danilo is constant and virtuosic with “solos” often not clearly delineated keeping the listener fully engaged. The three men each contribute in a unique manner: Brian’s explosive drumming marks off the energy and story line of the music; John is absolutely committed to the task of keeping things together while Danilo serves as the front line partner of Wayne both accompanying and as the second soloist.
Returning to Blue Note Records after forty plus years, this live recording is a gem. The standout track that highlights all of the above in one performance is “Pegasus” featuring the group with the Imani Winds. This track alone could stand as a summary of Wayne’s present writing and playing as he approaches 80 years old. There is no doubt that Wayne Shorter has and continues to make a major contribution to the music of our time. - Dave Liebman
Without a Net is Wayne Shorter's first Blue Note recording date since August 26, 1970, when he recorded Moto Grosso Feio and Odyssey of Iska. That's nearly 43 years. Shorter has pursued many paths since then, as a member of Weather Report, and as a bandleader. This quartet was assembled for a 2001 European tour and has been playing together ever since. It shows. The interplay Shorter shares with pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Pattitucci, and drummer Brian Blade is not merely intuitive, it is seamlessly empathic. All but one of these tunes were recorded during the group's 2011 tour. The lone exception is "Pegasus," recorded with the Imani Winds at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. There are six new tunes here; the quartet is credited with two of them. Shorter also revises some others, including set opener "Orbits" (the original was on Miles Davis' Miles Smiles) and "Plaza Real" (from Weather Report's Procession album). The only outlier, "Flying Down to Rio," is a version of the title tune from a 1933 film. Fireworks from this band can be heard everywhere. But the group aesthetic is especially noticeable in the penetrating romanticism of "Starry Night," where what appears restrained -- at least initially -- is actually quite exploratory and forceful. It's also apparent in the slow deliberation at play in the brooding "Myrrh.""Plaza Real" is a different animal here. Shorter's soprano soars and swoops through the melody, extending it at each turn as Pérez offers bright, pulsing chords to highlight the harmonic richness on display. Blade digs deep into his tom-toms, and finds an alternate polyrhythmic route that underscores the elegance and momentum in Shorter's lyric invention. The album's centerpiece is the 23-minute "Pegasus," which expands the band into a nonet. It is a tone poem that commences very slowly and deliberately. But its form gradually opens to allow for great expressions of individual and group freedom. Shorter's athletic soprano solo is breathtaking. The arrangement on "Flying Down to Rio" turns its catchy yet off-kilter melody into a group dialogue centered around a swirling series of complex harmonic statements. Pattitucci introduces "Zero Gravity to the 10th Power" with a funky vamp before layers of melody, harmonic extrapolation, and rhythmic interplay are added. By the time Shorter takes his tenor solo, we've heard everything from Latin grooves to modal assertions to classical motifs and some near explosions from Blade. While any new album from Shorter is an event at this juncture (he's nearly 80 yet in peak form here as composer and soloist), Without a Net is special even among the recordings made by this outstanding group. - Thomas Jurek
THE STANDARD LINE on Wayne Shorter is that he’s the greatest living composer in jazz, and one of its greatest saxophonists. He would like you to forget all of that. Not the music, or his relationship to it, but rather the whole notion of pre-eminence, with its granite countenance and fixed coordinates. “We have to beware the trapdoors of the self,” he said recently.
“You think you’re the only one that has a mission,” he went on, “and your mission is so unique, and you expound this missionary process over and over again with something you call a vocabulary, which in itself becomes old and decrepit.” He laughed sharply.
Mr. Shorter will turn 80 this year. Decrepitude hasn’t had a chance to catch up to him. Last week he appeared at Carnegie Hall as a featured guest with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which played several of his compositions. On Tuesday “Without a Net,” easily the year’s most anticipated jazz album, will become his first release on Blue Note in more than four decades. And next Saturday he’ll be at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the premiere of “Gaia,” which he wrote as a showcase for the bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding.
He hasn’t accrued this late-inning momentum alone. The vehicle for most of Mr. Shorter’s recent activity, including the orchestral work, is his superlative quartet with Danilo Pérez on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade on drums. A band of spellbinding intuition, with an absolute commitment to the spirit of discovery, it has had an incalculable influence on the practice of jazz in the 21st century — and not necessarily for the same reasons that established Mr. Shorter’s legend in the 20th. - Nate Chinen / The New York Times
The cover art of Without a Net alone might raise a few eyebrows, but it's the music that proves saxophonist Wayne Shorter is still one of jazz's most ardent provocateurs. In his return to Blue Note after 43 years, Shorter—who turns 80 in 2013— demonstrates his ongoing vitality and ingenuity as an extraordinary composer, improviser, and leader of one of today's strongest quartets. For over ten years, the seemingly telepathic and subliminal messages that Shorter, drummer Brian Blade, bassist John Patitucci and pianist Danilo Pérez communicate continue to inspire in these recordings largely captured from the quartet's European tour in late 2011.
There's room for disappointment for those expecting a fresh studio project, since Shorter's last studio release was 2003's Alegria (Verve). The slight pain for longtime fans is that this is yet another set of live recordings that's very similar to 2005's Beyond the Sound Barrier and 2001's Footprints Live (both on Verve). Yet the joy is all the more rewarding as Without a Net captures the band at its liveliest and most creative, as well as some new material making a first-time appearance.
Two gems from the past are performed in typical Shorter fashion, completely devoid of nostalgia and full of improvisational freedom. "Orbits," first recorded on trumpeter Miles Davis's excellent Miles Smiles (Columbia, 1966) is deconstructed and decelerated to a crawling groove as Pérez methodically pounds the melody before the other members join the fray. "Plaza Real" is a dramatic remake taken from Weather Report's Procession (Columbia, 1983), whereas surprises abound in the band's retelling of the title song from the 1933 musical Flying Down To Rio, which starred the first on-screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's quite unusual but totally satisfying.
Newer compositions such as "Zero Gravity to the 10th Power" and "Unidentified Flying Objects" are galaxy-expanding works that display Shorter's fertile imagination. The magic of the quartet is heard not only in each musician's potent energy, perfect control and sensitivity—with occasional eccentric whistles from Shorter—but also in its gift of creating spontaneous inventions out of thin air. The release's pièce de résistance is the brilliant 23-minute "Pegasus," recorded at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, where the quartet is accompanied by the Grammy-nominated wind ensemble The Imani Winds. Its vast theme contains elegant movements and unpredictable changes that are brought to fruition by a nonet of outstanding performers.
Shorter's return to Blue Note is momentous, and his volume of work—including Without a Net—is still expanding. The legendary saxophonist/composer, inquisitive near-octogenarian and avid reader of science fiction is still light years ahead of his time. - Mark F. Turner
After 43 years, the enigmatic saxophonist-composer returns to the label where he recorded a string of classic albums during the 1960s. Now 80, Shorter has led the same band (pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, drummer Brian Blade) over the past 12 years. The remarkable, near-telepathic chemistry they forged over that time is readily apparent on this aptly-named live recording culled from a European tour in late 2011. Two new Shorter compositions, the gentle rubato “Starry Night” and the atmospheric “Myrrh,” build to ecstatic crescendos led by Shorter’s wailing soprano sax, while the free-jazz “UFO” features him on tenor. “Orbits” is far more impressionistic and freewheeling than the hard-driving rendition that appeared on Miles Davis’ 1967 album, Miles Smiles. The like-minded musicians also turn in an open-ended 13-minute extrapolation on the title song from Flying Down To Rio, the 1933 musical film which first paired Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers onscreen. “Pegasus,” an ambitious 23-minute suite, is augmented by the Imani Winds quintet; it leaps from Pierre Boulez-style abstraction to Aaron Copland-like passages and has Shorter coyly quoting from Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo” along the away. In all, an incredible cornucopia of music from a living legend. / theabsolutesound.com
Growing up in the age of Weather Report, I’ll admit that it was difficult to gauge the breadth of Wayne Shorter’s importance as a composer in the modern jazz tradition. The new live set Without A Net provides a stirring reminder – like revisiting the velocity and daring of his earlier tenure with Art Blakey, and the strange new worlds he’d explore with Miles Davis, but in a brand-new context.
Due on February 5, 2013 from Blue Note, Without a Net includes a bracing new take on “Plaza Real,” an overlooked tune from the 1983 album Procession by Weather Report, which tended to be dominated compositionally by Joe Zawinul. Appearing here with an ace band featuring Danilo Perez on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade at the drums, Shorter also casts a twilit glance on “Orbits,” originally found on the 1967 Davis collaboration Miles Smiles, and undertakes a 12-plus minute exploration of “Flying Down to Rio” – the title track from a 1933 musical film.
Still, it’s within the six featured originals that Without a Net lives up to the lofty aspirations of its title, and to the legend that Wayne Shorter built at Blue Note between 1964-70 as a solo artist — an incredibly fertile period that mirrored his time with Davis.
Even while pulling double duty, Shorter made his most daringly individualistic and delightfully enigmatic albums during that initial stint — now more than four decades back.
Something of the period’s darker hues remains in his soloing, as does his under-reported willingness to play outside of harmonic and rhythmic conventions — notably here on “Pegasus,” a 23-minute tone poem. Still, listen closely: His solo references an indisputably classic recording like 1964’s Speak No Evil, illustrating Wayne Shorter’s canny ability to explore far and wide without losing his grip on the post-bop terra firma. - Nick Deriso
Jazz great Wayne Shorter recently spoke to the heart of his genre. “The six years I was with Miles (Davis), we never talked about music,” he told National Public Radio in the US. “We never had a rehearsal. How do you rehearse the unknown?”
He’s absolutely right. When done properly, jazz is a boundless medium through which improvisation is allowed to breathe. In fact, it’s encouraged.
Unlike other sonic works, the best jazz lives completely in the moment; its players are given carte blanche to feel the rhythm and see where it takes them.
Shorter’s new album, Without a Net, is full of spontaneity. There’s the random background chatter that layers Flying Down to Rio, and the exasperated “oh my God” on Pegasus, the album’s epic 23-minute centrepiece.
We hear the crowd’s enthusiasm throughout these live songs, and the band’s exuberance when its sound amplifies. These details seem small within the album’s larger context, yet they punctuate the record’s intimate feel.
For almost 80 minutes, the 79-year-old saxophonist controls his quartet while allowing it to explore various melodic terrains. Still, the music remains traditional in its approach and recalls the genre’s golden era. The songs, recorded in Los Angeles and Europe, proceed with an unhinged abandon, yet they never run off course.
So in the truest essence of jazz, Without a Net is a sharp return to the music’s brighter days. Orbits is a repurposed version of the Miles Davis Quintet’s 1967 song of the same name. Shorter played on the original, a sprightly number of quick drum snares and lively piano chords.
Shorter’s version is a bit darker and more methodical: above unsettled piano keys and cascading percussion, he infuses the melody with sporadic horn fills. It all makes for an exceptional recording, the saxophonist’s first since 2005’s Beyond the Sound Barrier.
Here, Shorter is firmly at the helm, yet benevolent enough to play the background when needed. The rhythm has taken him far. - Marcus J. Moore / BBC.co.uk
El jazz es un acto de creación sobre el terreno y, más que un lenguaje, es una actitud ante la música, un acto moral. Sin embargo, y por desgracia, los oficiantes de nuestro tiempo suelen ignorarlo, confundiendo su erudición y habilidades técnicas con logros artísticos. El resultado está derivando en una generación empollona y resabida que lo puede tocar casi todo y a toda velocidad, mucho antes de pararse a pensar si tienen algo que contar. No obstante, y frente a este “artisteo”, el jazz por derecho sigue saludándonos por la conjura inesperada de ciertos y contados músicos, en cuyo ánimo habita la necesidad de moverse y jugar, de rebelarse contra los modelos convencionales. Wayne Shorter (Newark, New Jersey, 1933) aprendió ese deseo de Miles Davis, un tipo que se asomaba al mañana por pura necesidad vital. Con más de cinco décadas de trayectoria impecable, Shorter sigue siendo uno de los grandes pensadores y agitadores del jazz moderno, al que él asiste desde una actitud forjada y madurada junto a compañeros amigos como Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock o John Coltrane. Al contrario de lo que pudiera parecer, él no se siente a vueltas de todo y por eso le sigue buscando el reverso a las cosas. El último de los testimonios discográficos, Without a Net (Blue Note, 2013), es justa prolongación de esa monumental entrega que fue Beyond the Sound Barrier (Verve/Universal, 2005), en donde convoca a un cuarteto de capitanes con el que está haciendo historia en el género por enésima vez, el formado por el pianista Danilo Pérez, el contrabajista John Patitucci y el baterista Brian Blade: probablemente el mejor cuarteto de jazz de nuestro tiempo. - cmdm.mcu.es
Without a Net es el tercer álbum que documenta los directos del cuarteto de Wayne Shorter que completan John Patitucci, Danilo Perez y Brian Blade. Los dos anteriores fueron Footprints Live! (Verve Records, 2002) y Beyond The Sound Barrier (Verve Records, 2005). En ese tiempo solo había propuesto un álbum de estudio, Alegría (Verve Records, 2003), pero en el caso del saxofonista estadounidense la diferencia entre las grabaciones sobre el escenario y en el estudio era mínima. En ambos casos, salvo proyectos especiales, se trataba de desarrollar su particular, vanguardista y aventurada concepción del jazz y la interacción con el resto de intérpretes.
Aquí la principal novedad fue que volviese a Blue Note, la discográfica en la que, durante los 60, había grabado sus mejores y más influyentes álbumes y en la que no publicaba desde Moto Grosso Feio (1974). Su vuelta al sello fundado por Alfred Lion documenta la gira realizada durante el 2011, con la excepción de la pieza central, Pegasus, grabada el 8 de diciembre del 2010 en el Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Esas tres grabaciones permiten apreciar su evolución y, dado que el cuarteto llevaba tocando más de una década, el grado de entendimiento alcanzado. El repertorio lo componen nada menos que seis nuevas composiciones, cuatro de ellas creadas en solitario, otras dos -las que cierran el disco- firmadas como parte del cuarteto. En fin, es una prueba más de que, en el caso de Wayne Shorter, un directo grabado puede ser tan estimulante como una obra de estudio.
Recupera también composiciones propias que creó para grabaciones clásicas: Orbits, estrenada en MilesSmiles (Columbia Records, 1966), de Miles Davis; y Plaza Real, compuesta para Procession (Columbia Records, 1983), de su conjunto Weather Report. Como de costumbre cuando Shorter está al mando -perdón, al saxo-, las reinterpretaciones son tan creativas -y tan poco nostálgicas- como de costumbre. También revisa Flying Down to Rio, extraído del musical homónimo que unió por primera vez en pantalla a Fred Astaire y Ginger Rogers. Aquí, la pieza suena tan vanguardia e imaginativa como el resto, sin nada del aroma clásico de la original.
Las nuevas composiciones expanden aún más el territorio sonoro de Wayne Shorter y su cuarteto, y es asombroso como la creatividad de los intérpretes y su tendencia a improvisar -razón de ser de su existencia- nunca está reñida con una exquisita sensibilidad o incluso, cuando la pieza lo requiere, la contención en uno determinados parámetros sónicos. Eso sí, sus referencias son tan ricas, variadas e inesperadas como siempre, y aunque la influencia de la composición clásica no está tan presente como de costumbre, se perciben ecos de multitud de tendencias, del jazz o no: Shorter cita por ejemplo Manteca, de Dizzy Gillespie.
Si escuchar al cuarteto en pleno apogeo creativo es una gozada, la pieza central son los más de veinte minutos de Pegasus, en la que el cuarteto se amplía a noneto con la participación de Imani Winds. Solo el arriesgado viaje sonoro de este corte ya aclara las intenciones de Shorter y compañía, su voluntad de improvisar sin red -ya lo anticipa el título del disco- y de crear una música que desafía constantemente las expectativas incluso del más exigente y entrenado oyente. - unplanetadesonidos.com
Tracks
1. Orbits (Wayne Shorter)
2. Starry Night (Wayne Shorter)
3. S.S. Golden Mean (Wayne Shorter)
4. Plaza Real (Wayne Shorter)
5. Myrrh (Wayne Shorter)
6. Pegasus (Wayne Shorter)
7. Flying Down To Rio (Edward Eliscu/Gus Kahn/Vincent Youmans)
8. Zero Gravity To The 10th Power (Brian Blade/John Patitucci/Danilo Pérez/Wayne Shorter)
9. (The Notes) Unidentified Flying Objects
WAYNE SHORTER tenor and soprano saxophones
JOHN PATITUCCI double bass
DANILO PEREZ piano
BRIAN BLADE drums
MONICA ELLIS bassoon (6)
MARIAM ADAM clarinet (6)
TOYIN SPELLMAN oboe (6)
JEFFREY SCOTT french horn (6)
VALERIE COLEMAN flauta (6)
IMANI WINDS(6)
Recorded December 8, 2010 and tour in the end of 2011
"Pegasus" was recorded live December 8, 2010 at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Blue Note Records 509999 79516 2 9