ALAN SHORTER
Tes Esat
Verve/Free America

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Alan Shorter, the late brother of celebrated saxophonist & composer Wayne Shorter, is a minor figure in the history of free jazz in the U.S. The older Shorter was also originally a saxophonist but later switched to trumpet and flugelhorn, perhaps to escape the long shadow of his more famous sibling. Alan was considered by many to be a near-genius in his conceptual and performing abilities, but his life and career were interrupted by mental illness, and both were cut tragically short. Shorter played on perhaps a dozen or so recordings, most as a sideman. On those recordings he comes across very well and leaves an indelible stamp of his own on the performances. There are only two recordings featuring Shorter as a leader. The first, Orgasm, is probably best known because it included a band featuring Charlie Haden, Gato Barbieri, and Rashied Ali. Tes Esat, recently reissued as part of the Free American series, is less well-known, though it is notable for including intense performances by saxophonist Gary Windo, who was himself a very under-recorded artist.

The opening track, “Disposition,” is an intensive burst of sound, and will prove the most difficult to assimilate for most listeners. Bassist Johnny Dyani, who contributed to Orgasm as well, also offers some frantic piano work on this piece that recall the more excessive ventures of Cecil Taylor. It’s a rather frantic and dense twenty-seven minutes that, in all honesty, seems like a lot of hullabaloo over very little. Dyani’s work on bass is much better than his piano work, and drummer Rene Augustus manages to keep the energy level high without becoming unduly noisy. The hero of the piece is undoubtedly saxophonist Gary Windo, who absolutely blisters the paint with his incendiary playing, and a solo of such ferocity that it’s difficult to imagine anyone, from Coltrane to John Zorn mustering more of an attack. Curiously, this all renders Shorter a little bit superfluous, and he somehow manages to seem a bit irrelevant on his own recording date.

That trend continues on the very short “Beast of Bash,” which is primarily a showcase for Dyani’s acoustic bass work, punctuated by Shorter and Windo’s brief unison declarations. The closer, “One Million Squared,” is less than half the length of “Disposition” and a good deal more interesting as well. Windo is somewhat more restrained this time (how could he not be?) while Dyani and Augustus figure heavily in the proceedings. Shorter offers his most cohesive and interesting playing here as well, and it ends the CD on a very satisfying note. Still, one cannot escape the feeling that Alan Shorter was not one of the more interesting musicians playing in free jazz circles at the time. He had other challenges as well—mental health difficulties and alcohol addiction—that almost certainly made it impossible for him to carry on as a musician and to record more dates under his name, but overall this is not one of the more interesting releases in the Free America series. It does, however, provide a very rare glimpse into the work of a lesser-known figure in the music and will certainly be of interest to those who wish to hear Shorter.