New Wayne Shorter Columbia Box set- 6 CDs

[jazzkrow]

Wayne Shorter, The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (Columbia/Legacy, 2011)

The journey started in Newark, New Jersey where Shorter began drawing attention to his musical prowess as a teenager. His five year stint, starting in 1959, with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers alerted the jazz world to Shorter’s compelling voice on the tenor saxophone and his beguiling compositions. On joining Miles Davis in 1964, Shorter solidified what came to be called “The Second Great Quintet,” alongside the trumpeter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. Shorter’s tunes – “Footprints,” “E.S.P.”, and “Nefertiti” among them – and his alluringly elliptical playing were decisive elements in the critical success of the Davis band. Shorter’s own concurrently released albums as a leader have proved to be just as inspiring to subsequent generations of players as his work with Davis.

With Davis’s initial fusion foray, In a Silent Way, Shorter turned to the soprano saxophone, instantly cementing a new and highly influential voice on the instrument. After participating on the epochal Bitches Brew, Shorter joined forces with Joe Zawinul, forming Weather Report. Increasing commercial success, particularly after the innovative bassist Jaco Pastorius joined, marked the fusion super group’s notable fifteen-year run. Shorter’s own Native Dancer (1974), effectively introduced North American audiences to singer and composer Milton Nascimento.

With the dissolution of Weather Report in 1985, Shorter, the musician, was on his own for the first time. His albums Atlantis, Phantom Navigator and Joy Ryder found him delving deeper into extended composition while continuing to investigate electric fusion. Approaching his eighth decade, Shorter reverted to an acoustic setting once more, forming a highly lauded quartet noted for its risky improvisational ethos. Shorter remains what Hancock dubbed him: “the master.”

Albums Included:

New bonus disc - Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 1

New bonus disc - Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 2

Native Dancer with Milton Nascimento (1974)

Atlantis (1985)

Phantom Navigator (1986)

Joy Ryder (1988)

Any opinions on the four sessions issued as leader?

Remastered by Mark Wilder of Sony/Columbia

APPEARS TO BE COMING OUT NOW OR VERY SOON...

[jazzbo]

Here's my opinion: if these had been done as acoustic jazz sessions, I think they would have been amazing. There's some great writing here. I just can't get past the "sound" of the album and the production with synthesizers and a very dated sonic presentation. Every now and then I try again. Just can't listen to a whole disc. That may be just me.

I would imagine these new masterings will sound better, but it's not the mastering that's the problem for me.

Edited October 31, 2011 by jazzbo

[brownie]

Available in a few days at a good price at Amazon.fr

[7/4]

Here's my opinion: if these had been done as acoustic jazz sessions, I think they would have been amazing. There's some great writing here. I just can't get past the "sound" of the album and the production with synthesizers and a very dated sonic presentation. Every now and then I try again. Just can't listen to a whole disc. That may be just me.

I would imagine these new masterings will sound better, but it's not the mastering that's the problem for me.

Same here.

[Michael Weiss]

The kind of beats - rock rhythm (for lack of a better term, what have you) that are the fundamental rhythmic core of many of these compositions, such as Condition Red, Remote Control, as well as Forbidden Plan-It! IMHO would sound absolutely ridiculous with acoustic piano and bass and no synths. However Mahogany Bird is acoustic, for the most part. Flagships would not have its film-score like grandeur without the sound palette used.

So.... just suck it up and go with it. I will admit that the monster sounds on Remote Control are pretty cheesy. But Wayne digs his Sci-Fi so let the man have his fun.

[Hot Ptah]

I have often liked Wayne Shorter's electric instrumentation. I think that often he used it in a more expressive way than almost anyone else in the so-called fusion style of the 1970s and 1980s. I agree with Michael Weiss that much of this music would not have sounded very good with acoustic instrumentation.

There are musicians who just shoved the trendy electric guitars and electric pianos and synthesizers on top of their usual music in this era, and then there are the musicians who tried to use the electric instruments as another means of genuine expression.

[Tom Storer]

[...]

Albums Included:

New bonus disc - Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 1

New bonus disc - Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 2

Native Dancer with Milton Nascimento (1974)

Atlantis (1985)

Phantom Navigator (1986)

Joy Ryder (1988)

Any opinions on the four sessions issued as leader?

I don't know the later three (although I must have heard some of that stuff performed live in the 80's), but "Native Dancer" is a GREAT album. I wore out the original vinyl, replaced it on CD, and still play it and enjoy it -- my God -- thirty-seven years later.

Beauty and the Beast

Ponta de Areia

[Tjazz]

Amazon $30.40

Amazon

[kh1958]

This set can be bought for around $25 at present on amazon.com.

Native Dancer is of course fantastic.

Atlantis, mostly is not for me. I only liked The Three Marias.

Phantom Navigator, I did not care for this album.

Joy Ryder, to my surprise, I mostly rather like; Wayne sounds great, and I even like the electric keyboards on this one (by Patrice Russian, Geri Allen, and Herbie Hancock).

[JSngry]

That price is too good to refuse!

[jazzbo]

I ended up getting this set, paying more than I should have if I waited, but oh well. I still don't enjoy most of the albums, and life is too short to keep trying. But Native Dancer is excellent, and is corrected in this set and sounds great. And I do enjoy the two discs of Weather Report material, a nice compilation that works really well as sequenced. Sound is much improved overall imo.

[JETman]

I ended up getting this set, paying more than I should have if I waited, but oh well. I still don't enjoy most of the albums, and life is too short to keep trying. But Native Dancer is excellent, and is corrected in this set and sounds great. And I do enjoy the two discs of Weather Report material, a nice compilation that works really well as sequenced. Sound is much improved overall imo.

So, is this your idea of an unabashed thumbs up?

[jdw]

But Native Dancer is excellent, and is corrected in this set and sounds great.

Hi Lon. Can you clarify what problems on Native Dancer were corrected for this new remaster?

Thanks.

John

Vancouver BC

[Pete C]

And I do enjoy the two discs of Weather Report material, a nice compilation that works really well as sequenced.

They're available on Spotify.

[jazzbo]

Cool. I don't do Spotify.

[mjzee]

But Native Dancer is excellent, and is corrected in this set and sounds great.

Hi Lon. Can you clarify what problems on Native Dancer were corrected for this new remaster?

Thanks.

John

Vancouver BC

Previous thread

[jazzbo]

Thanks mjzee, I missed that post.

I no longer have the older cd, but there was an unsteadiness to portions.

Edited June 26, 2012 by jazzbo

[romualdo]

Amazon $30.40

Amazon

Import CDS have the Shorter Columbia Box for $22.45

[mjzee]

I bought it a few months ago for $18 and change.

[JETman]

Amazon $30.40

Amazon

Import CDS have the Shorter Columbia Box for $22.45

Why is the Wayne Shorter box way cheaper than the Woody Shaw Box.....same amount of 6 cds.

Supply and demand.

Fewer people want the Wayne box than want the Woody box.

[mjzee]

Also, the Woody box is newer. Its price will come down eventually.

[jdw]

Why is the Wayne Shorter box way cheaper than the Woody Shaw Box.....same amount of 6 cds.

My hypothesis: it's because of the unreleased live tracks in the Woody Shaw set. The unreleased material means bringing in the lawyers and accountants to get new contracts signed and royalty rates set. Depending on the original contracts, even the sidemen might be need to be paid for the previously-unreleased tracks, 30-plus years later.

In comparison, all the material on the Wayne Shorter box is previously released and Sony can probably reissue it any way they want without such complications.

[Pete C]

Supply and demand.

Fewer people want the Wayne box than want the Woody box.

I'd have assumed otherwise. What's your source?

Edited July 6, 2012 by Pete C

[mjzee]

Also, the Woody box is newer. Its price will come down eventually.

Same original Pop Market release date 9/13/11 and same later date mass market release at 6/12/12.

Does that include the availability date in England? The Shorter box has been available for some time as an import through Amazon resellers.

[mjzee]

Also, the Woody box is newer. Its price will come down eventually.

Same original Pop Market release date 9/13/11 and same later date mass market release at 6/12/12.

Does that include the availability date in England? The Shorter box has been available for some time as an import through Amazon resellers.

I was using the Amazon USA release dates, but the amazonUK release dates are exactly the same.

I purchased my Shorter box from Amazon on April 18. Earlier comments in this thread indicate availability since December.

The Woody Shaw box has only recently become available on Amazon.