Power!Power!Power!

126
MUSIC
Jazz&Blues
By Jim Macnie
W
TONE AUDIO NO.53
e usually expect the level of
eloquence to rise as artists move
into their advanced years—refinement
and judiciousness blend to
elicit a certain grace. But some,
like Wayne Shorter, are lucky enough
to bring ferociousness along with them.
The kinetics and drama that dominate the
saxophonist’s return to the iconic Blue Note
label, where he was responsible for a string
of earthshaking records that began with
1964’s Night Dreamer, are nothing less than
disarming. Through a steady stream of the
elliptical horn lines for which he’s become famous,
the 79-year-old Shorter and his squad
wring a series of cataclysmic crescendos
from these rich originals. Without A Net is
recorded live, and it boasts the kind of ardor
that immediately tickles an audience. Something
wild is always going on.
This quartet is deeply dedicated to interplay.
Pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci,
and drummer Brian Blade have proven
their collective agility since their 2002 debut,
Footprints Live. Their exchanges are playful
but never glib; a perpetual seriousness hovers
above these pieces. Part of it is architectural.
Shorter is often cited as jazz’s greatest
living composer, and indeed, his fusion of
structural savvy and melodic aplomb has few
equals. From “Starry Night” to “Plaza Real,”
©Photo by Robert Ascroft
Wayne Shorter Quartet
Without A Net
Blue Note, CD
the four-way conversation embraces both the
giddy and mysterious, and when the players
invent a tune on the spot, like “Zero Gravity
To the 10th Power,” their skills at waxing
mercurial are totally seductive.
An extended piece recorded live with
the Imani Winds is sandwiched between
the eight quartet tracks. The chamber work
“Pegasus” reiterates the Shorterian method,
full of swells that accommodate the constant
darting of his soprano sax (there’s a smidge
of tenor on the album as well) and Blade’s
bombs-bursting-in-air approach to punctuation.
It’s certainly more static than its counterparts,
but possesses its own idiosyncratic
momentum, which is basically the DNA of
this disc. In some way, the Imanis are rendered
superfluous—present for color, not kinetics.
As the quartet shows time and again,
it’s got everything it needs to spark a wealth
of action on its own.
March 2013 127