Wayne Shorter & SF Jazz Collective

[medjuck]

Last weekend the wife and kids were away so I went out to hear live music 2 nights in a row.

Friday was the Wayne Shorter Quartet (w. Dailo Perez, John Patitucci & Brian Blades) at a 600 seat theater. I'm not that familiar with Shorter's work. Last time I saw him live he was with Miles and the only record of his I have is the fairly recent Alegria which I would guess is not typical of his work. (I have nothing against Weather Report but I don't own any of their records.)

The quartet played about a 90 minutes straight including an encore and they knocked me out. The first piece was nearly 30 minutes long and Shorter took his time joining in! Eventually he played a lot of tenor, a bit of soprano, whistled into the mike and blew through his tenor without vibrating his reed. It soon became clear that this quartet was not 3 sidemen accompaying a leader but four equally strong individuals playing together. I have no idea what any of the pieces were or if they were medleys or individual numbers. But I loved it.

Anyone else seen this group?

The Shorter concert inspired me to hear more live music so the next night I went out to UCSB to an 800 seat hall and heard the SF Jazz Collective. I'd heard them last year when they paid homage to Ornette. This year it was Coltrane. Their tradition (of 2 years) is to play new orchestrations of songs by one composer and give equal time to pieces composed by collective members. It's a great group but for me the whole was less than the sum of the parts. I liked all the soloists but the orchestrations (which I think were by Gil Goldstein-- for whom I have an affection because of his association with Gil Evans) left me cold. I liked the ensemble work best on the pieces where Bobby Hutcherson had a strong voice in the mix. The use of vibes struck me as the most original thing about the group--- though I guess you can find precedent for this in larger Teddy Charles or Don Elliot combos.

Still the collective is worth seeing and hearing. But for me last weekend The Wayne Shorter Quartet may have just set the bar to high for them.

[bertrand]

'Last time I saw him live he was with Miles'.

Holy crap! We're talking 35 years or more! Glad to see you enjoyed the group so much. Wayne has been through many changes since. They probably played a lot of material from the forthcoming album, which features a lot of new compositions.

Bertrand.

[medjuck]

'Last time I saw him live he was with Miles'.

Holy crap! We're talking 35 years or more!

More than 40 years ago. Either '64 or '65.

[Adam]

Hi medjuck,

i saw them in inverse order in Los Angeles a couple of days before you. SF Jazz at Disney Hall; Wayne Shorter at UCLA. And my response to both was almost the exact same as yours.

[medjuck]

Hi medjuck,

i saw them in inverse order in Los Angeles a couple of days before you. SF Jazz at Disney Hall; Wayne Shorter at UCLA. And my response to both was almost the exact same as yours.

Well then, you are obviously a man of taste and intelligence.