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Wayne Shorter In Boston review


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I saw Wayne Shorter Sunday night in Boston. Here's a reveiw from the Boston Globe.

I thougt Wayne sounded a little tentative on tenor and more forceful on soprano. Short night, 50 minute set or so and one encore.

MUSIC REVIEW

Shorter Quartet: four brains, one being

By Steve Greenlee, Globe Staff, 4/8/2003

ayne Shorter, jazz's greatest living composer, for the most part eschewed form for the entirety of his quartet's concert Sunday night at Berklee Performance Center. Instead, the group engaged in a free-flowing exchange of ideas that created a long series of peaks and valleys that only hinted at composition.

It was an enthralling event.

Anyone who expected the saxophonist and his rhythm section -- pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade -- to ''play'' selections from their new album, ''Alegria,'' was in for a shock. Not only does the album revel in the composed form, but half of the compositions don't belong to Shorter, and they aren't jazz tunes, either. Also, the quartet creates only the core of the disc's music; woodwinds, cellos, horns, and percussion round out the sound, which is equal parts jazz, classical, and world music.

What they played Sunday may not have technically fit the definition of free jazz, but it came as close as you can without crossing that line. The quartet seemed less a collection of personnel than a large organism with four brains. One musician introduced an idea, another picked up the thread, and all conversed over it, until someone decided how to alter it.

Shorter's ideas were clearly there, though it would be wrong to say that any one of the five pieces the group played was a ''song.'' Snippets of composition served as only the barest of frames for improvisation. Shorter wanted the audience to know right from the beginning that something was up. It wasn't immediately clear whether Perez and Patitucci were warming up their fingers, adjusting their instruments, or actually starting to play -- until Blade started striking the rims of his drums with his sticks, and then Shorter furtively blew a few notes. Aha, this is the first tune.

Shorter hadn't led an acoustic band in three decades before he assembled Perez, Patitucci, and Blade a couple of years ago. Not only is he making better music than ever, but at 69 years old he's one of the most relevant, exciting artists around.

Wayne Shorter Quartet

At: Berklee Performance Center,

Sunday night

This story ran on page D7 of the Boston Globe on 4/8/2003.

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

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