WAYNE SHORTER
ALEGRIA
Verve
That Wayne Shorter’s newest release,
Alegria, has the sound of an instant classic should
come as little surprise to anyone who has followed the saxophonist/composer’s
career. What is surprising is the way Shorter works with
a large group of musicians on many tracks to provide beautiful
settings for his trademark soprano and tenor playing. The
arrangements for the larger ensemble are orchestral in nature,
but they have none of the hackneyed, clichéd sounds
that musicians can fall into on this type of project. Instead,
many of these recordings call to mind the way in which Miles
Davis and Gil Evans were able to use a large ensemble to
create harmonically sophisticated and musically meaningful
settings for Davis’s unique trumpet sound. Just listen
to the Shorter’s arrangement for “Serenata,”
utilizing flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, bassoon,
and cello; it evokes Miles Ahead while managing to be completely
fresh and original because of Shorter’s individual
voice in the arrangements and his beautiful soprano work.
The core of Alegria is the same group
featured on last year’s live recording Footprints
live!: Shorter, pianist Danilo Perez,
bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade. On a few
numbers Brad Mehldau and Terri Lynn Carrington are substituted
for Perez and Blade, but overall the quartet is the heart
of the group. Shorter actually began working with the quartet
on this album prior to the tour that resulted in Footprints.
"The seeds of Footprints live!, its initiation,
is subtly evidenced in some of this studio music,”
says Wayne. “After we finished recording in the studio,
we were able to build from there with the tour and create
the stories you hear on the road." It’s a solid
group and one that is able to respond very well both to
Shorter’s compositions and his improvisations, but
there’s no doubt that Wayne Shorter is front and center
on Alegria.
The opener, “Sacajawea,” has a
nice groove established by the rhythm section, then a catchy
melodic statement by Shorter. By overdubbing multiple soprano
and tenor lines, he is able to get the most from the quartet
lineup. It’s a performance that picks up right where
Footprints left off, and the listener is immediately
engaged and open to whatever Shorter has up his sleeve.
Perez’s solo reminds us of just why he is on the short
list of top living jazz pianists, offering soul and turning
up the intensity several notches. It explodes into a free
blowing ending that is truly a thing of beauty. Following
the aforementioned “Serenata” are “Vendiendo
Alegria,” which has a breezy Latin rhythm, and the
Robert Sadin-arranged “Bachiana Brasileiras No. 5”,
which features exquisite cello solo work by Charles Curtis
and is one of several tracks with added percussion by Shorter’s
former Weather Report bandmate Alex Acuna. With its six-voice
cello ensemble, the Villa Lobos composition echoes the Davis/Evans
collaboration Sketches of Spain in its marriage
of Latin classical music and jazz improvisation. Shorter’s
newly-revived tenor playing is on full display here, its
warm tone like a favorite sweater. If the Davis/Evans comparisons
seem a bit of a stretch, note that “Vendiendo Alegria”
is based on a popular 1930s flamenco tune. Miles gave Shorter
the music in the ‘60s and suggested that Wayne “do
something with it.” Now, some forty years later, Shorter
has done something really great with it.
“Angola,” completely reharmonized
and reworked from its original 1965 recording, displays
an Afro-Cuban influence, with Carrington and Acuna providing
spot on drum and percussion work. It’s nice to hear
Chris Potter’s bass clarinet in the mix as well—it’s
an instrument with a long history in jazz (all the way back
to Jelly Roll Morton) and hasn’t been heard much since
Bennie Maupin’s work on Bitches Brew and
subsequent Herbie Hancock recordings. The instrument’s
darker shades create a great deal of depth in the sound,
and Shorter’s arrangement, which also features two
trombones and trumpet, is perfect. Following the brief tenor
and drum sparring of “Interlude,” the quartet
returns with the traditional “She Moves Through the
Fair.” Rounding out the album are Shorter’s
arrangement of the traditional “12th Century Carol”
and powerful reworkings of two of his classic compositions,
“Orbits” and “Capricorn II.”
Shorter turns 70 this year, joining his Weather
Report and Miles Davis bandmate Joe Zawinul, who also recently
released an amazing album, Faces
& Places. What’s striking about
both recordings is that they continue to absorb from many
different cultures and time periods, continuing the mission
of both Weather Report and Davis. It’s interesting
that some of the most vital and inspiring jazz music is
still coming out of musicians who worked closely with Miles
and who have been at the forefront of the forward development
of jazz music. There’s never been any doubt about
Wayne Shorter’s talents as a sax player and as an
interesting and highly developed composer and arranger.
We should all be thankful that he has found a new source
of inspiration and is playing and recording with such a
distinguished group of younger musicians. Though the death
knell of jazz is continually being sounded, there should
be no doubt in anyone’s mind that as long as there
are great individual voices like Shorter’s out there,
the music’s future is assured.
