Wayne Shorter has passed away

[Guy Berger]

13 hours ago, mjzee said:

I was the head of my college's jazz concert commission, and we put on Weather Report in November 1974.  I remember Wayne played far more, and far more emphatically, than on the WR albums, and he really helped push the band.  It was one of the hottest concerts I still can recall.  

What mjzee said. Wayne’s playing with WR in concert was generally more robust than that on the post-1972 studio albums, at least on the 1973-75 concerts I’ve listened to.

We’ve talked a lot about Wayne’s solo albums, his work w/Blakey and Miles, WR - I want to call out his work on McCoy Tyner’s albums Expansions and Extensions. “Message from the Nile” has one of the greatest soprano saxophone solos I have ever heard.

[HutchFan]

1 hour ago, Guy Berger said:

14 hours ago, mjzee said:

I was the head of my college's jazz concert commission, and we put on Weather Report in November 1974.  I remember Wayne played far more, and far more emphatically, than on the WR albums, and he really helped push the band.  It was one of the hottest concerts I still can recall.  

What mjzee said. Wayne’s playing with WR in concert was generally more robust than that on the post-1972 studio albums, at least on the 1973-75 concerts I’ve listened to.

Yep.

Plenty of evidence here that Wayne could be very assertive in concert:

[adh1907]

Am I misremembering but did I once read that Wayne suffered from asthma and that was reflected in his style? In the  phrasing. No long Coltrane like lines. 
 

Anthony

London

[sidewinder]

2 hours ago, adh1907 said:

Am I misremembering but did I once read that Wayne suffered from asthma and that was reflected in his style? In the  phrasing. No long Coltrane like lines. 
 

Anthony

London

Just scanned through the ‘Footprints’ bio and there’s no mention of asthma in there that I can see but it would be interesting to know if that was the case.

Edited March 4, 2023 by sidewinder

[GA Russell]

One of my strongest memories of Wayne Shorter is the strong promotion his Schizophrenia album received in the record stores.

I lived in DC at the time, and it was the same in every store.  It was on display like you would expect the #1 rock album to be.

I guess he could thank Liberty for that.

[danasgoodstuff]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:39 AM, Mark Stryker said:

Leaving the records aside, when I saw Wayne live for the first time -- Jazz Showcase, November 1985, with his first post-WR quartet -- he played almost non stop. First there were were extended-form compositions whose melodies he carried, and then he often played long improvisations that delivered not only beguiling individual moments but also coalesced into larger narratives. It was a kind of "goal-oriented" soloing against a steady rhythmic beat that he rarely entertained with his post- 2002-quartet, which was defined more by the four-way conversational aesthetic -- we always solo,  we never solo.  I will say that as much as I did love this last band, there were concerts when I was frustrated that Wayne didn't play more -- not because  I wanted or expected gunslinger "solos" but because there were times where it wasn't really an equal, four-way conversation. Wayne sometimes ceded so much space and decision making to the others that he didn't have at least a 25% say on where the music was going, or where it might or could go.  I loved hearing Wayne react to what was going on around him; but sometimes I wanted him to lead the conversation more -- because he's Wayne Shorter, and the ideas you're gonna get from him in front of the band are going to be more profound than when those come from the others.  

Folks may recall that this happened once in Detroit.  https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/arts/mark-stryker/2015/03/21/wayne-shorter-quartet/25143431/

Wish I'd heard that, that would be something.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

On 3/2/2023 at 4:20 PM, JSngry said:

I'm kinda creeped out that Wayne went before Sonny. Sonny is only 3 years older, but came on the scene and boomed everything up a decade or so before Wayne got public.

I wonder how much of the opera with Esperanza Spaulding got finished. That might be a fascinating piece of music if there's enough there for it to become one.

It was indeed finished, and played at the Kennedy Center two years ago https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/explore-by-genre/jazz/2021-2022/iphigenia/

Edited March 7, 2023 by Hoppy T. Frog

[JSngry]

How documented was it? 

[Hoppy T. Frog]

15 hours ago, JSngry said:

How documented was it? 

All I have is a promo sweatshirt, LOL. I don't think there is any recording, sadly, unless the other performance (in Texas?) was recorded. It was quite moving when Wayne came out in his wheelchair during the bows to a rapturous reception. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Hoppy T. Frog

[gvopedz]

Shorter and Milton Nascimento:

 

[JSngry]

whoa... 

[Peter Friedman]

The only time I saw Wayne Shorter live was with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. It was at a club in Detroit in 1960. 

It was a great evening of music.

[Mark Stryker]

12 minutes ago, Peter Friedman said:

The only time I saw Wayne Shorter live was with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. It was at a club in Detroit in 1960. 

It was a great evening of music.

The Minor Key?

[Peter Friedman]

2 hours ago, Mark Stryker said:

The Minor Key?

Yes, that is the club. Blakey had Wayne Shorter, Freddie hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton &  Jymie Merritt.

[Patrick]

I saw both performances of Iphigenia at Kennedy Center. Definitely a finished product. Not aware of any recordings, but you can explore booking the production in your town. Octopus Theatricals

[JSngry]

Somebody recorded that, if only Wayne and/Esperanza. Had to. 

[Peter Friedman]

This album may be somewhat under the radar. It is one I have always enjoyed quite a lot.

Bobby Timmons, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb - January 30, 1966

[Larry Kart]

24 minutes ago, Peter Friedman said:

This album may be somewhat under the radar. It is one I have always enjoyed quite a lot.

Bobby Timmons, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb - January 30, 1966

It's a  gem.

[Chuck Nessa]

4 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

This album may be somewhat under the radar. It is one I have always enjoyed quite a lot.

Bobby Timmons, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb - January 30, 1966

Had the lp with an orange stereo sticker back in the day - replaced it with this cd -

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Chuck Nessa

[mjzee]

4 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

This album may be somewhat under the radar. It is one I have always enjoyed quite a lot.

Bobby Timmons, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb - January 30, 1966

Is this the cover you have?  I have it on a Japanese CD with this cover:

[Chuck Nessa]

That was the original Prestige lp cover.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

8 hours ago, mjzee said:

Is this the cover you have?  I have it on a Japanese CD with this cover:

For the original release in Japan in 1966, they clearly tried to capitalize on Shorter's presence:

Edited March 10, 2023 by bresna

[Rooster_Ties]

8 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Had the lp with an orange stereo sticker back in the day - replaced it with this cd -

 

I have this British two-fer CD, pairing Soul Man with Soul Food (which is a trio date).

https://www.discogs.com/release/9180956-Bobby-Timmons-The-Soul-Man-Soul-Food

I’ve thought about trading up(?) to the pairing (cd) you have, Chuck — but I’ve never seen one cheap out in the wild, and it’s always been prohibitively expensive online (I saw one like you have on Dusty  Groove for $25 recently — and my price point would be half that).

[JSngry]

I was lucky to find that one in a South Dallas mom & pop in the late 70s, where it had obviously sat for a while. Think they were still asking $3.99 or $4.99 for it. Definitely a retail price, not a collector shop.

[Dan Gould]

I remember paying about $8, used, for the two-fer reissue Rooster references, definitely at a time when no one thought of CD as collector items or simply getting so rare that they could overcharge as is apparently the case now.