Wayne Shorter Quartet

[Late]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8geam2Ey6I&NR=1

1985, Warsaw.

Who's in the band?

[JSngry]

I recognize Gary Willis on bass...

Full personnel (who I did not recognise) listed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXHPWhohXRI

Mitchel Forman on keys, Gary Willis (without a cap, which is rare in itself) on bass and Tom Brechtlein on drums.

[ValerieB]

i adore Wayne but i wasn't really familiar with this group of his. sounded like they were trying to be a continuation of Weather Report. was it a short-lived group?

[bertrand]

Yes, Wayne had a number of short-lived electric groups after Weather Report's dissolution, none of which made an official recording (the two post-1985 studio albums of the time have shifting personnel, including some members of the touring groups). The concert I saw in Paris on 3/17/87 at the Grand Rex movie theater really turned me on to Wayne. The group was Wayne, Jim Beard, Carl James on bass, Terri Lyne Carrington and Marilyn Mazur.

There are a number of well-recorded shows from festivals around this time that could/should be officially released, with Wayne's permission of course (like they are doing with the Miles Bootleg box). Not sure what it would take to talk Wayne into it. Now would be a good time since a box set of his studio albums on Columbia is about to come out. The arrangement of 'Plaza Real' from this era (my favorite Wayne composition) would be justification enough to release one of these concerts.

Bertrand.

Edited September 2, 2011 by bertrand

[ValerieB]

Yes, Wayne had a number of short-lived electric groups after Weather Report's dissolution, none of which made an official recording (the two post-1985 studio albums of the time have shifting personnel, including some members of the touring groups). The concert I saw in Paris on 3/17/87 at the Grand Rex movie theater really turned me on to Wayne. The group was Wayne, Jim Beard, Carl James on bass, Terri Lyne Carrington and Marilyn Mazur.

There are a number of well-recorded shows from festivals around this time that could/should be officially released, with Wayne's permission of course (like they are doing with the Miles Bootleg box). Not sure what it would take to talk Wayne into it. Now would be a good time since a box set of his studio albums on Columbia is about to come out. The arrangement of 'Plaza Real' from this era (my favorite Wayne composition) would be justification enough to release one of these concerts.

Bertrand.

thanks, Bertrand, for sharing your knowledge. always appreciate it.

[Mark Stryker]

I saw Wayne around this time at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago with the same bass player and drummer but I think a different keyboard player -- don't recall who it was. Frankly, nobody made an impression on me except for Wayne, who I thought sounded extraordinary. It was the first time I had ever seen him -- never saw Weather Report or VSOP live -- and what I remember was that he seemed to play almost all the time, rarely resting, taking really long solos that kept building and building. Very architectural playing and the effect was heightened by the fact that it grew so organically out of his meticulous, multisectioned compositions.

My recollection is that the rest of band mostly created a carpet for him, and the other solos came off as interludes at best, but Wayne was playing his own symphonies. Completely different aesthetic than the current quartet -- the band was no where near as profound a group as today but just from the specific standpoint of hearing Wayne really play and stretch out, I prefer what I heard from him as a soloist back in the '80s. To me he sounded like he was really enjoying and taking advantage of the freedom of being outside the scripted confines of Weather Report.

Edited September 3, 2011 by Mark Stryker