Jazz Articles about Wayne Shorter

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Herbie Hancock: River: The Joni Letters

by John Kelman
October 11, 2007

While it might be easy, on the surface, to view pianist Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters as a continuation of Possibilities (Hear, 2005), nothing could be further from the truth. Possibilities was an unapologetically pop record; River is unequivocally jazz--although such broad classifications shouldn't matter. River is, quite simply, a superb disc that takes Joni Mitchell's extant jazz proclivities and gives them an even greater interpretive boost. The majority of River is culled from Mitchell's “classic" songwriting ...

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Lee Morgan: The Gigolo

by Samuel Chell
February 26, 2007

Lee Morgan The Gigolo Blue Note Records 2007

As we observe the 35th anniversary (Feb. 19) of the death of the talented trumpeter who would also become the major player in one of American music's more noteworthy Frankie and Johnny stories, the title of this Lee Morgan session and several others (The Tom Cat, The Rajah, The Procrastinator) take on a note of eponymous self-characterization, if not ghoulishly ironic subtext. Regrettable or not, the ...

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Weather Report: Forecast: Tomorrow

by Ronald S. Russ
October 13, 2006

Weather Report Forecast: Tomorrow Columbia/Legacy 2006

If you followed jazz during the 1970s you were well aware of Weather Report. They consistently won the Down Beat readers' poll for jazz group of the year and helped forge a link between jazz, rock, and what would be later termed world music.

Formed in 1970 by saxophonist Wayne Shorter, keyboardist Joe Zawinul and bassist Miroslav Vitous, the band lasted for over 15 years with an ever-changing ...

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Weather Report: Forecast: Tomorrow

by John Kelman
October 11, 2006

While the virtuosity of its members was never in dispute, of all the groups that emerged in the 1970s fusion era, Weather Report was the one that best avoided the trappings of excess--the victory of technical facility over musical substance to which other bands of the time fell prey. However, despite an auspicious beginning that leaned closer to a free jazz aesthetic than groups like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever, notwithstanding an emphasis on electric sounds and advanced production ...

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Wayne Shorter: Great Sessions

by Chris May
April 18, 2006

Blue Note is adept at finding fresh ways of repackaging its back catalogue--the label has to be, because in not so many years time, every dodgy operator on the planet will be able to punt the music out, in any permutation they fancy, unconstrained by copyright restrictions. Blue Note Europe's new Great Sessions series is a particularly attractive idea. Each set slipcases together three more or less consecutive albums, almost all of them in audio-enhanced RVG editions, at a budget ...

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Wayne Shorter Quartet / Brad Mehldau at Massey Hall in Toronto

by Brenton Plourde
April 18, 2006

Wayne Shorter Quartet / Brad Mehdlau Massey Hall Toronto, Canada April 5, 2006 Toronto's Massey Hall has seen it all. From rock concerts to classical to typing contests and chess tournaments, Massey Hall is as diverse as any place in Canada and possibly around the world since it first brick was laid in 1893. On April 5th, The Wayne Shorter Quartet along with Brad Mehldau for one night took over ...

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Lee Morgan: The Gigolo

by Chris May
February 18, 2006

Hard bop's baddest trumpeter, Lee Morgan, may never quite have topped his iconic '63 masterpiece, The Sidewinder, but he came pretty damn close on a couple of occasions. The Gigolo is one of them, and it's been reissued as part of the ongoing Rudy Van Gelder remaster series. The album's menacing, visceral vibe has never sounded more powerful or engaging.

With The Sidewinder ringing cash registers across the US and Europe, there was a temptation for Morgan and Blue Note ...